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Loutran County Council.
ICE AND COLD STORAGE.
Report of the Medical Officer presenting Report by Dr. Hamer on the use of Ice and
on Cold Storage in London.
(.Printed by order of the Public Health Committee, October 20th, 1904.)
On the 16th July, 1903, the Committee had under consideration a letter from the Town
Clerk of Bermondaey forwarding a report on ice prepared by the medical officer of health
and asking on behalf of the Borough Council that the London County Council would cause
inquiry to be made into the ice trade in London. The Committee referred the matter to me for report,
and the investigation was forthwith undertaken by Dr. Hamer. The question raised by Dr. Brown,
the medical officer of health of Bermondsey, was as to the fitness of natural ice imported into this
country from lakes, rivers, and fiords in Norway and Canada for use for human consumption. Dr.
Hauler's inquiries were, therefore, directed at the outset to the ascertainment of particulars concerning
natural ice and its manipulation in London; and further, to study of the methods adopted
in the manufacture of artificial ice. As a result of visiting various ice factories, he was led to
conclude that the question of use of artificial ice was, to a large extent, bound up with that of cold
storage, and on January 28th of this year the Committee decided that the inquiry should be
accordingly extended.
In the report which I now present, Dr. Hamer, after giving in the first place an account of
the development of the ice industry, discusses the records of ice-borne disease which, it may be
noted, are by no means extensive or precise, and the bacteriology of ice, which is obviously a subject
of considerable importance in connection with the present inquiry. In particular, I may allude to
recent results obtained by Professor Abba, to which Dr. Hamer refers, as throwing quite a new light
upon the bacteriology of ice. Professor Abba concludes that water bacteria are not so much
destroyed as extruded from ice in the process of freezing, and this fact has important applications,
more especially in connection with the use of artificial ice. It may, moreover, be noted that
Professor Abba's conclusions are consistent with previously ascertained facts as to extrusion from
ice of foreign matter in the course of freezing.
As regards the conditions under which the ice industry is carried on, there are undoubtedly
certain sources of risk of contamination incidental to the manipulation of ice in London, but the
main question to be decided is, as to the advisability of employing natural ice under circumstances
in which it comes into actual contact with beverages and with food. Dr. Hamer points out that
the use for the purposes named of ice made from distilled water was recommended on the best
authority in Germany twenty years ago, and the employment of artificial ice has steadily gained
ground in the United States and is being slowly but surely extended in this country.
Having in view the facilities which now exist for obtaining artificial ice it appears not
unreasonable to suggest that for all purposes in which there is actual contact with food, such ice
made from absolutely pure and preferably from distilled water should be used, inasmuch a3 the
source of natural ice can never be known with certainty by the consumer.
With extension of the manufacture of artificial ice there will doubtless be in the near future
steadily increasing provision of cold storage, and the question has already been raised in America
as to the need of supervising cold stores in the interests of the public health. Apart altogether
from the desirability of the inspection of such premises with a view to seizure of unsound food,
there has to be considered the need of securing that questions of structure and arrangement which
are of importance for ensuring freedom of foodstuffs from contamination should be duly considered
in designing cold stores. If this is to be successfully accomplished, it would necessitate the
compulsory registration of all premises of this sort with the requirement that before being used
the plans Bhould be approved by a health authority.
Finally Dr. Hamer notes that there is need of extension of knowledge with regard to the
effect of cold storage on perishable foodstuffs.
Shirley F. Murphy,
Medical Officer of Health.
Ds. Hamer's Report.
The use of ice is steadily growing, while as regards cold storage there has in recent years
been quite a remarkable development in London. But little importance, however, has hitherto
been attached to the question of the quality of the ice used, and knowledge concerning the effect
of refrigeration upon food is almost entirely wanting. I have endeavoured to learn how much is
740] [S.S./18010