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71
Inspection of Food, etc.
Ice-creams.
The London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1902, contains provisions which confer
powers on the London sanitary authorities for requiring that ice-creams, for the most part sold
from stalls in the street, shall be prepared under conditions which will not expose consumers
to risk. A considerable outbreak of enteric fever in South-east London had been investigated
on behalf of the Council by Dr. George Turner, now medical officer of the Transvaal, and had
been shown by him to be due to the consumption of ice-creams made by Italian vendors under
grossly insanitary conditions. Since that time cases of enteric fever have at various times been
attributed to the same cause, and in 1902 Dr. Collingridge found that a number of telegraph
boys had suffered from severe gastric disturbance due to the consumption of ice-creams manufactured
on insanitary premises. Samples of the ice-creams in question had been examined
bacteriologically by Dr. Klein, and of 23 such samples, 12 had been found to contain virulent
bacteria, and in some cases to produce the death of guinea-pigs when injected beneath the skin of
these animals. No outbreak of disease was attributed in 1903 to this cause, although in a few
isolated instances, it was noted that, antecedent to an attack of enteric fever, the patient had eaten
ice-cream. In respect of one of these occurring in the City, Dr. Collingridge expresses the opinion
that the ice-cream, which was made under insanitary circumstances in Stepney, was the cause
of the illness.
The annual reports show that much use was made in London of the powers conferred by
the Act of 1902. Premises were inspected on which ice-cream was manufactured, and various
insanitary conditions were removed. In Finsbury, in which the Italian quarter is in part situated,
"a determined effort has been made to supervise the ice-cream industry, not only in the
Italian quarter, but throughout the borough." A register of such piemises is kept in
nearly all, if not in all, districts of London, and each medical officer of health communicates
to his colleagues any information he obtains from itinerant vendors as to
the existence of such premises in their districts. In this way a fairly complete register
of such places has been obtained. In a number of instances it was found that the icecream
was stored in a bedroom, and in Fulham and Holborn penalties were recovered for this
offence. In several districts itinerant vendors were prosecuted for failing to exhibit their names
and addresses on their barrows. Several of the medical officers of health speak of the improved
conditions under which ice-cream is now prepared as the result of these proceedings. In Paddington
it was noted that there was "a great improvement in the cleanliness of the premises,
utensils, towels, and washing water used in connection with the sale of ice-cream, and especially
in the personal cleanliness of the street vendors"; and Dr. Harris states that on three occasions in
Islington he was invited to inspect premises with a view of advising intending tenants as to
their fitness for the manufacture of ice-cream. "In each instance an opinion adverse to their
occupation was given, so that ultimately they went to other parts of the metropolis."
The number of ice-cream premises on the register, and the number of inspections, etc., can
be seen in tabular form for the following districts—

Unsound food.
The annual report of Dr. Collingridge, the medical officer of health of the City of London,
in which the Central Meat Market is situated, shows that the supply of meat to the market in
1903 amounted to 415,915 tons, the greatest amount on record in any one year. Of this meat,
1,142 tons were seized, of which 193 tons were diseased, 602 tons putrid, and 76 tons unwholesome.
Dr. Collingridge states that on the 15th April, 1903, the Netherlands Government instituted a
system of examination of meat with a view to preventing the export of any doubtful meat from
Holland. Dr. Collingridge thus describes the system—"Pending legislation of a compulsory
character the Netherland Government have introduced a system of voluntary inspection and