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In the decade 1881-90 these diseases caused respectively 26 9 per cent. and 15.3 per cent. of
the deaths of London males at these ages, showing, so far as this method of dealing with the subject
can show, an excessive tendency of bakers to die of pneumonia and bronchitis.
It seems then that such figures as are available raise some suspicion that the occupation
of a baker is attended with certain dangers to health, but the statistics collected do not deal with a very
large number of deaths.
With regard to contamination of bread it may be at once said that there is at present no evidence
pointing to the transmission of infectious disease by the consumption of this article of diets such as
exists in the case of water and milk. It is none the less desirable that in a bakehouse there should be
scrupulous attention to cleanliness and wholesomeness of surroundings, and there is occasionally evidence
of a lack of such attention in London bakehouses. Even in the best conducted and most cleanly places,
kneading by hand necessarily implies a certain amount of organic pollution, and there can be no doubt that
this source of contamination far outweighs in degree all others. Hand kneading is, it is said, being fast
replaced by machinery, and as Dr. Arlidge observes, " the whole details of bread and biscuit making are
being rapidly metamorphosed by this agency to the sanitary gain of bakers, and to the advantage of
cleanliness."
It now remains to consider whether the present law relating to bakehouses is adequate
for ensuring that the sanitary condition of these premises is satisfactory both as regards the health of
the workers and the manufacture of bread.
The number of bakehouses situated either underground or partially so indicates that this
situation is found especially convenient by the trade, probably on account of the comparatively large
amount of room required. The inspection has however shown that a proportion of these (20%) owing
to inadequate ventilation cannot be considered to be in a proper sanitary condition. In view of the
fact that even 18 per cent, of the underground bakehouses were found to be well ventilated it is obvious
there can be no general prohibition on the score of ventilation of bakehouses thus situated. It may
be urged however, that inasmuch as it is a frequent custom to convert underground rooms into bakehouses,
that this custom is largely responsible for the existence of ill-ventilated bakehouses, and that
section 16 of the Factory and Workshops Act of 1883 provides an insufficient power of control, more
restriction should be placed on the use of premises which never can be made to meet the proper
requirements of a bakehouse.
Any provision which would lead to the creation in a London district of bakehouses of greater
excellence from a hygienic point of view would undoubtedly have the eflect of raising the standard by
which other bakehouse premises would be judged for the purposes of section 16 of the Act of 1883, and
the requirement of a higher standard than at present for new bakehouses would thus indirectly lead to
the improvement of existing premises.
I think, therefore, the course which suggests itself at the present time is the provision of a power
to require that all premises hereafter brought into use as bakehouses shall, before these premises are
used, comply with regulations relating to the structure and position, the lighting and the ventilation,
including air space, and the cleansing, drainage, and water supply of the premises.
It would, no doubt, be a distinct advantage if the sections of the Act of 1883, as to the exclusion
from a bakehouse of any privy or ashpit, or any inlet connected with a drain or sewer, and the provision
of a water supply from a cistern separate and distinct from the cistern which supplies the watercloset
were applicable, not only to bakehouses newly occupied since 1883, but to all bakehouses. The provision
that there shall be no inlet connected with a drain or sewer, if enforced, would prevent the risk of flooding
in underground bakehouses in low-lying districts which now exists to a small extent. This question
of flooding, however, is not of importance in respect to bakehouses only, but raises question as to the
sufficiency of sewerage and as to the need of control of the levels of basements which are drained into
sewers.
Apart from the alterations which might be affected in the condition of London bakehouses by
the amendment of the present law on the lines indicated, other needed improvements in their condition
are such as depend on their regular inspection, and the enforcement of existing provisions by the sanitary
authorities.
Shirley F. Murphy,
Medical Officer of Health