London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1921
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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As a result of the daily Inspect on of City Wharves 194 loads of unsound bod were removed from these places during the year by the Cleansing Department The material so disposed of comprised:—
| Tons | cwts | qrs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tinned Fruit Vegetables and Fish | 70 | 7 | 0 |
| Condensed Milk (removed at request of Owners) | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Fruit Pulp | 70 | 6 | 1 |
| Fruit (Various) | 39 | 6 | 2 |
| Vegetables (Various) | 26 | 0 | 2 |
| Micellaneous | 9 | 15 | 1 |
| Total | 217 | 2 | 2 |
A portion of the above was removed at the request of the owners
IMPORTED EGG YOLK
From time to time I have reported on the question of imported egg yolk and
have directed attention to the fact that this was formerly imported in a frozen
state free from preservative or in an unfrozen state either as whole egg containing
albumin or as whole egg from which the albumin had been extracted and
further that in the latter case preservative either salt or boric acid had been used
Salt in large proportions was contained in egg yolk which was destined to be
used for technical purposes such as leather dressing and boric acid in considerable
proportions was present in egg yolk intended for human consumption
Action has been taken to prohibit the sale of boracised egg yolk in small tins
for domestic use but it is permitted to be sold to large manufacturers who use it
for confectionery making only where in the finished product the amount of egg
used in proportion to the bulk is so small that the amount of boric acid can be
regarded as negligible in amount
During the war yolk which possessed very considerable keeping qualities was
submitted to me for examination but no preservative could be discovered More
recently a firm of City traders have submitted to me an egg yolk possessed of
similar keeping qualities which when submitted for examination was found to
be free from formaldehyde sulphurous acid sulphides salicylic acid boric acid
borates benzoic acid hydrofluoric acid and fluorides
A portion of the sample was submitted to the Ministry of Health for their
investigation Apparently some new manufacturing process was being used of
the details of which I am unable to obtain precise information
IMPORTED COMPOUND LARD
In the early part of the year two consignments of "Compound Lard " were
landed at Custom House Quay Lower Thames Street One consignment which
consisted of 250 boxes marked " Compound Lard"
Dutch Produce
arrived ex ss Batavier IV on the 19th February and the other consisting of 100
boxes similarly marked arrived by the same steamer on the 12th March
Samples of each consignment were submitted to chemical analysis with the following results:
| No 1 per cent | No 2 per cent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonseed Oil | 90 | 80 | ||
| Stearine | 10 | 20 | ||
| 100 | 100 | |||
In directing the attention of the Sanitary Committee to these results I pointed
out that the socalled compound lard was apparently not prepared from hog fat
which of course is the material from which lard is made and stated that in my
opinion the use of the word "Lard" even in conjunction with the qualifying
adjective in connection with such a product as that examined is a pernicious
proceeding and should be prohibited The position is similar to what happened in
the days when margarine was first introduced when the word "Butter" in conjunction
with some more or less appropriate adjective or such a misleading name
50
CONDEMNATION OF FOOD INSPECTED AT RIVERSIDE WHARVES