London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

City of London 1902

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]

This page requires JavaScript

122
No. 24 was taken from the same shop on the 11th ultimo; also proved
satisfactory.
St. Bartholomew's Hospital and College,
September 13th, 1902.
Ice Cream No. 24, received 11/9/02, contained very few microbes, and proved
non-poisonous to guinea-pig.
E. KLEIN.
From the Table appended it will be seen that of 23 samples of ice cream
examined, 12, or about 52 per cent., were found to be absolutely poisonous,
and that a certain number of cases of illness with definite and similar
symptoms were reported among persons who had eaten such contaminated
material. One practical difficulty has been already incidentally referred to.
It is not sufficient to find cases of illness traced to a particular source to enable
the stock of a trader to be seized under the Public Health Act, one must be
able to go further, and state that such stock is "unsound or unwholesome or
unfit for the food of man."
Such statement cannot be made until the result of the bacteriological
examination is known, and this means that two or three days must as a general
rule elapse before any effective action can be taken under this section, during
which time the ices will in nearly all cases have been sold and eaten.
In two instances only was it possible to connect the sample with the goods
still held by the dealer.
As will be shown, however, later on, this will not probably involve any
special danger to the public health when the provisions of the 1902 Act are
in force.
The result of the survey of all places within this City where ice creams are
retailed is as follows:—

There are 173 establishments (exclusive of clubs and licensed premises where ice creams are served to diners, &c.) where such goods are sold, and in 32 only are these goods actually made within the City. The figures are:—

District.Total.Percentage.
East.Middle.West.
Number of shops in the City where Ice Creams manufactured outside the City are sold37673714181.5
Number of shops in the City where the vendor's stock is made in the City18773218.5
Total557444173100.0