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Inspection of Food.
The annual reports of medical officers of health supply information concerning the seizure of
unwholesome articles of food in their districts. In the City the seizures and surrenders of diseased
and unsound meat amounted to 1,038 tons; of poultry, etc., 142 tons; of fruit, vegetables, condensed
milk, etc., 194 tons 9 cwt.; at riverside wharves, of fish condemned by the officers of the Fishmongers
Company in Billingsgate Market 783 tons ; and of fish seized by the officers of the Corporation 9 cwt. In
Finsbury, which borders on the City, and where is situated the so-called "extra Corporation" market,
a special food inspector is employed, and 33 tons 13 cwt. of diseased meat were confiscated, together with
decomposed meat, poultry, fruit, vegetables, etc., amounting to 66 tons, 9 cwt. In Islington the
total amount of food condemned during the year was 2 tons 1 cwt. In Bermondsey 26 tons 13 cwt.
of food were surrendered and, in addition there were several seizures of other unsound articles of food.
In Stepney 368 tons 3 cwt. of unsound food were destroyed ; in the last two districts are situated wharves
where a considerable amount of food stuff is received. In Southwark, in which wharves are also situated,
and where a special food inspector has been appointed, the surrenders and seizures of unsound articles of
food were considerable, including 10,000 rabbits seized at the cold stores on one of the wharves. In
Poplar, in which district there are also wharves, a quantity of preserved food was surrendered and other
articles of food were seized. In the remaining districts seizures of unsound food were made, but
of smaller quantities, and in numerous instances prosecutions followed and convictions were obtained.
Among the articles seized in Poplar were a number of blown tins containing various articles of
food, leading to seizures in Shoreditch, Stepney, Poplar, Southwark and Camberwell. This food had
been brought from a shed in Shoreditch and was in the ownership of a man who, the medical officer
of health of Southwark reports, was the reputed owner of several large eating houses in London. It
is said that some of these tins had been returned from South Africa. This man was convicted and fined.
An important seizure of liquid eggs was made in 1907 by the medical officer of health of Stepney.
Dr. Thomas found on some premises in Commercial-street a number of casks, some containing the yolks
of eggs only and others containing the whites and yolks of eggs, while one cask contained the
whites of eggs only. The eggs, which were rotten, were mixed with boracic acid. The defendant
alleged that they were intended to be used for leather dressing in Germany, and subsequently it was put
forward that they were to be used for the feeding of poultry. It was shown, however, that he sold
liquid eggs to bakers and confectioners and it was admitted that a baker who bought liquid eggs from
the defendant had been convicted and fined some eighteen months previously for having rotten eggs
on his premises. The defendant was fined £50 with respect to 18 casks of mixed yolk and whites ;
£50 with respect to six casks of putrid yolks and £10 10s. costs. Later, a baker was also fined for having
liquid eggs unfit for food upon his premises. The articles dealt with in Stepney included a number
of tins of essence of meat which had been returned from South Africa. These tins were examined at
the wharf, and 2,554 were found to be unsound and were destroyed.
Account is given in the reports of the medical officers of health of the City and of Southwark
of the poisoning of children through eating kaloo nuts. Altogether some thirteen children are
known to have suffered from irritant poisoning from this cause. Some of these children were
admitted into Guy's Hospital, where the cause of their illness was recognised. Dr. Collingridge states
that the nuts were a consignment of 16 cwt. of a kind unknown to the dealer, who had purchased them
from a ship's captain as a speculation. The bulk was deposited on the premises of a cocoanut and general
fruit merchant in the City, who had sold some of them to costermongers. By the aid of the
police the nuts were rapidly recovered before any considerable mischief had occurred. The nuts were
the seed of a species of Aleurites, a native of China, believed to be the chief source of Chinese wood oil.
Among the articles seized in Hackney and Finsbury were ox intestines used for the making of
black puddings. These intestines were affected with a parasitic disease œsophagostomum columbianum.