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ties there have made regulations which are now in complete agreement with the recommendations of
the English Commission [on tuberculosis], including those relating to pigs." Action such as that which
Dr. Collingridge suggests to the City Corporation should be beneficial to the home producer whose meat
has to compete with that from foreign countries. So long as an efficient system of meat inspection is
maintained in Denmark and Holland there is a guarantee of freedom of this meat from disease, which is
not as yet provided in respect of meat killed in this country, and this fact must eventually have its
effect on the mind of the consumer to the prejudice of the purchase of home produced meat. The
City Corporation will undoubtedly render useful service both to producer and consumer in England
by instituting such a system as Dr. Collingridge suggests.
The annual reports contain many references to the condition of preserved food, partly as the
results of statements published as to the canned meat industry of Chicago, and partly as the result of
the issue of a circular letter by Dr. G. S. Buchanan, the Local Government Board's Inspector of
Foods, asking that the examination of preserved foods may be made the occasion of obtaining
information as to the use of preservatives and colouring matter. The subject of the use of preservatives
has already been investigated and reported on by a Departmental Committee, and such use should be
brought under effectual control. The following resolutions relating to preserved foods were adopted
by the Metropolitan branch of the Incorporated Society of Medical Officers of Health.
That it is necessary, in order to secure better protection for the public in regard to tinned and preserved foods,
that legislation should be passed embodying the following important reforms—
1. The name and address of the manufacturer and the date of the canning shall be impressed on the
cans.
2. It shall be unlawful to sell for any purpose canned goods that are unfit for consumption, and it shall
be the duty of any person in possession of unsound canned food to notify and surrender the same to the local authority,
who shall destroy such unsound food free of charge.
3. A certain number of tins (say 1 per cent.) from each consignment shall be opened on importation
and the contents examined under the supervision or instructions of the sanitary authority concerned, prior
to such canned goods being placed on the market.
4. Tins which are known in the trade as " doubtfuls " shall be deemed to be unfit for human consumption.
5. Food intended for canning shall be inspected by independent officials, and all foods shall be canned
under strictly hygienic conditions.
6. In the opinion of the Branch, the use of preservatives in canned foods is unnecessary, and should
under no circumstances be permitted.
The annual reports show the amount of food which was surrendered to the sanitary authorities
or seized by their officers as unfit for human consumption, and subsequently condemned by a magistrate's
order. The largest quantities were dealt with in the City, in which are situated the City markets. During
the year nearly 1,918 tons of meat were condemned, and of this amount over 165 tons of meat were
diseased, 47 tons of this meat being tuberculous. The fish condemned by the fish meters of the
Fishmongers' Company weighed nearly 1,445 tons, and 193 tons of foodstuffs were seized on the
City wharves. In Finsbury, where a large wholesale meat trade is carried on in the vicinity of
the Farringdon Market, 121 tons of meat were confiscated, of which over 35 tons were diseased. A
system of inspection of meat at the time of slaughter in private slaughter-houses has been instituted
in Islington, and over 2 tons of foodstuffs, mostly meat, were seized during the year. In Hackney more
than 17 cwt. of meat were seized and over 4 tons of fish. In Stepney over 209 tons of foodstuffs
were seized, tinned food constituting a large proportion of this quantity. In Shoreditch 19,449 tons
of preserved food were surrendered, and in Bermondsey 41 tons of foodstuffs were destroyed. In
Southwark a large quantity of unwholesome food, including much tinned food, was destroyed. In the
other districts the amounts were much smaller than in those mentioned above, but seizures are reported
in every district of London except one.
The Sale of Ice Cream.
It would appear from the annual reports that considerable attention is being given to premises
on which ice cream is prepared for sale, and in some reports improvement in their condition is stated
to have resulted. Cases of infectious disease have occurred on some of these premises, but there is
no evidence of the distribution of disease during the year by this article of food. The proceedings
of local authorities are shown in the following table :—

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