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Unsound Food.
The majority of the reports of medical officers of health contain accounts of articles of food
seized by them or by the sanitary inspectors on account of their unwholesome condition, and in numerous
instances the persons selling the food were prosecuted and convicted. Thus, seizures were made in
Paddington, Fulham, Chelsea, Westminster, St. James Westminster, Marylebone, Hampstead, St.
Pancras, Islington, Hackney, St. Giles, Strand, Holborn, Clerkenwell, St. Luke, City, Shoreditch,
Whitechapel, St. George-in-the-East, Limehouse, Mile-end Old-town, Poplar, St. Saviour, St. George,
Southwark, Newington, St. Olave, Bermondsey, Lambeth, Battersea, Wandsworth (Clapham), Greenwich,
Woolwich, Plumstead. The food seized usually consisted of meat, fish, vegetables, or fruit.
Seizures of tinned milk and tinned lobsters were made in Poplar. A seizure of some tins of plums
was made in St. Olave at the moment of delivery from a wharf in the district to a van standing
in the public street with a view to removal to another district. At the hearing of the case by the
magistrate, evidence was submitted to prove " that the goods were only being removed for examination
and not for sale." Inasmuch as the medical officer of health states that " the magistrate's decision
renders the Act to a great extent inoperative," it would appear that the summons was dismissed. The
medical officer of health of the Strand thus refers to an important decision of the court for consideration
of Crown Cases Reserved—
"In the end of 1893, a summons was taken out by your Board against a Covent-garden firm, who
had sold by auction to a costermonger two boxes of oranges, the contents of one box being entirely bad,
and a fine of £10 and costs was ultimately imposed by the magistrate. An appeal was taken to the
County of Londou Sessions and dismissed, as it was proved that ths boxes of oranges had been
technically marked as being of good quality by the defendants' servants, who must, therefore, have first
examined the contents of the box.
Another case on somewhat similar lines in another district was brought before 11 judges sitting as a
Court for Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved. The appeal was upheld, a decision in which 10 of the
judges concurred. This case, however, differs from that taken up by your Board, in that it was not proved
that the defendant had sold the walnuts as good and fit for food. The decision, however, relieves the
wholesale seller of much responsibility (if he takes certain precautions), and it remains for the buyer to
insist upon a proper opportunity for viewing the goods before he makes his purchase."
The Manufacture and Sale of Ice-Creams.
In 1892 I presented to the Public Health Committee a report by Dr. George Turner on an
outbreak of enteric fever in south-east London during the preceding year. Dr. Turner found that the
disease had been communicated to numerous people by means of ice-creams, which had been sold
in the streets by Italian vendors. Inquiry into the conditions under which this article of food had
been prepared in the homes of the vendors showed that abundant opportunities existed for the contamination
of the cream. In 1894 the medical officer of health of Islington presented to his authority
a report based on an investigation made by him as to the materials used in the manufacture of icecream
sold in the streets, into the quality of the water used for washing the glasses in which the
ice-cream is served to the consumer, and the conditions under which the ice-cream is made and stored.
Specimens of the water and of the ice-cream thus sold were submitted to Dr. Klein, whose report
shows that they were contaminated by numerous organisms, among which was the bacillus coli,
" a normal inhabitant of the bowels of men and animals." The medical officer of health of Islington
recommended his authority to memorialize the Local Government Board to introduce legislation which
will empower local authorities to register the vendors of ice-cream, and to make by-laws for
regulating the conditions under which it is made and sold.
Disinfection and Destruction of Infected Articles, and Provision of Shelters.
In April, 1893, I presented to the Public Health Committee a report showing the provision
which existed in the several districts of London for the disinfection and destruction of infected articles,
and for the temporary shelter of persons during the disinfection of their houses. Communications
were then addressed by the Council to those authorities who had not made such provision, or in whose
districts the arrangements appeared inadequate or unsatisfactory. In December, 1894, I presented a
further report to the Committee, showing the provision which existed in that year (see Appendix VI.).
This report showed that in 1894, 22 districts were provided with steam disinfecting apparatus, whereas
in 1893, 16 were so provided. In the interval the districts of Chelsea, Hackney, Whitechapel, St.
George-the-Martyr, Lewisham and Plumstead had substituted steam for dry heat apparatus. The
districts of Islington and Westminster, which had previously relied on the services of a contractor,
had been also provided with their own steam apparatus. In April, 1893, provision of a shelter, sometimes
only of one or two rooms, had been made in 13 districts. The report of 1894 gives account of 20
districts which had made provision.
The reports of medical officers of health of the following districts give further account of the
steps taken in connection with the subject of disinfection and provision of shelters during the year.
Fulham.—Land has been purchased for the purposes of provision of apparatus for disinfection.
Marylebone.—Two vans, having different colours, have been provided for the removal of
infected articles to, and disinfected articles from, the disinfecting station.
Islington.—Two steam disinfecting chambers have been provided, and with these are associated
a laundry.
Stoke Newington.—The medical officer of health recommends the discontinuance of the present
method of dry-heat disinfection, and the substitution for it of disinfection by steam apparatus. He
thinks that in view of the character of the district this might be provided by contracting for the use
of the apparatus in a neighbouring district.