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Newington, 5,664 tins of condensed milk were condemned; in St. George-in-the-East, three cases of
condensed milk were condemned ; in Wandsworth, 346 tins of condensed milk, 39 tins of lobster, and
25 tins of boiled rabbit were surrendered ; in St. Saviour, Southwark, 400 tins of condensed milk
were condemned; in St. Olave, 7 cwt. of tinned meat and 1 cwt. of condensed milk were surrendered;
in Whitechapel, 94 tins of salmon and 28 tins of lobster were destroyed; in St. Pancras, 2,112 tins
of salmon and 36 tins of sardines were condemned ; in Lambeth, 23 tins of lobster were seized, and
the vendor fined £10.
From what has been said above it will be seen that there is a distinct trade in which unsound
tinned food is prepared for human consumption, but the trade in food of this quality extends to other
articles alsc. Inspections in Mile-end Old-town led to the discovery that a very similar course was
adopted in dealing in eggs. The medical officer of health states, that in the course of inspection of
houses a large store was found and within an hour after the inspection application was made by the
occupier for the removal and destruction as trade refuse of numerous eggs. The premises were then
watched and in November were visited by the officers of the sanitary authority, who seized cases
containing 3,400 eggs which were subsequently condemned by the magistrate and the defendant fined
£15, with £5 5s. costs. Dr. Taylor writes—
Enquiries were then instituted by your inspector and myself in various parts of London with the
result that we found that a very large trade was being carried on with this class of goods, particularly in
the East-end amongst the lowest foreign shopkeepers. We also ascertained that the son of the defendant
was employed by wholesale provision merchants to " Candle " eggs (i.e., to separate the good from the
bad), and that he had been allowed to take the bad ones away. In other cases he had purchased eggs as
waste at prices varying from Is. to Is. 6d. per 100, the price of good eggs at that time being from 7s. 6d.
to 8s. per 100. Enquiries were made amongst the small provision merchants in St. George's and Whitechapel,
and we discovered a number of them had purchased eggs from the defendant and a large
proportion of these eggs had been purchased by customers as good.
In July the medical officer of health of Limehouse seized 117 tubs of unsound strawberries in
two vans in Devonport-street and took them before the magistrate at the Thames police court for condemnation.
The magistrate refused to make an order, as no evidence was produced that they were
exposed for sale at the time of the seizure, though they had been offered for sale and refused by a jam
manufacturer in Ratcliff half an hour previously. The owner admitted they were unsound, and
afterwards made application for them to be destroyed as trade refuse. The Limehouse District Board
applied for a mandamus to compel the magistrate to state a case on the ground that a condemnation
order was a condition precedent to taking out a summons against the owner of the article, and that all
the magistrate had to do upon the application for a condemnation order was to satisfy himself that the
article in question was unfit for food of man, that it was not until a summons had been issued that he
had jurisdiction to enquire whether the article was intended for the food of man or not; that this was
a point of law, and the magistrate was bound to state a case for the opinion of the High Court upon it.
The Divisional Court took this view.
The absence of any systematic inspection of meat in London gives abundant opportunity for
unsound meat to be sold for human food. London receives from other parts of the country meat
which cannot be sold locally on account of its condition and there is no doubt a definite trade carried
on in meat of a quality which would never knowingly be allowed to be used in any civilized community.
Some time ago I had inquiry made concerning the business of a knacker in one of the provincial
towns, with the result that it was found that the flesh of animals which had been sent there was
removed to premises in a district in the east of London. The occupier of these premises dealt in
cat's meat, but the fact that the flesh he received from the provincial town was dressed in the manner
in which flesh is dressed for human consumption, strongly suggested the view that it was intended for
this purpose. In 1899, the chief sanitary inspector of Bethnal-green kept watch over the London
premises where this flesh was received, and ascertained that among the customers of the occupier
of these premises was a " manufacturer of high-class meat pies." Having put himself in communication
with the officers of other districts, to which this flesh was taken from these premises a
seizure of a portion was made in Hackney, where it was being removed to the premises of a sausagemaker.
The flesh was unfit for food and as the result of proceedings in the police-court the sausagemaker
and the cat's-meat dealer were each fined £50. I have reported at length on the need for
adoption in London of a system of meat inspection, similar to that of many large foreign towns, and the
subject still awaits the decision of the Council. Until such system is adopted there is not the least
doubt that unsound meat will be freely introduced into London to the prejudice of the poor, who,
more than any other class, must suffer from the present want of control over the meat supply.
Foreign meat entering London through the public slaughterhouses of Birkenhead and Deptford
is subject to inspection at the time of slaughter, and that which is received into the Smithfield
market of the Corporation is also subject to inspection. In 1899 the medical officer of health
of the City reports, 405,406 tons of meat entered these markets, and 1,172 tons were destroyed, of
which 1,034 J tons were putrid, 95 tons were diseased, and 42-J tons unsound from accident or other
causes. Dr. Saunders says of " wasted " Australian sheep many were condemned, and that some of
them, though not absolutely injurious as food, were almost destitute of nutritive property. In St. Saviour,
Southwark, as many as 1,520 carcases of frozen sheep were destroyed, but in the reports relating to
the other districts no reference is made to seizure of foreign meat arriving dead in England. The
only other districts in which any considerable seizures were made were Holborn and Islington. In
Holborn where a large meat trade is carried on in shops situated in streets bordering on the City
markets, and where a special meat inspector is employed, 3,390 stone of meat were seized, 888
stone of which were diseased and 3,101 decomposed. In Islington, where also a special meat inspector
is employed, 8,014 lbs. of meat in slaughterhouses and 1,439 lbs. of meat in shops were destroyed.
The appointment of special meat inspectors throughout London is much needed, and especially in
districts where the population is poor and low-priced meat is sold.
In connection with the subject of food poisoning I may mention that Dr. Lovett, the medical
officer of health of St. Giles, consulted me on July 25th as to an outbreak of illness which had occurred