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At riverside wharves, 508 tons of various foodstuffs were condemned, of which 121 tons were
utilised for stock feeding and industrial purposes, and 387 tons were destroyed, being quite useless
for any purpose. Every effort is made to ensure that food which is unfit for human consumption is
utilised in some other way, but there is always a quantity, particularly of vegetables and fruit, for
which no use can be found.
Whale Meat.
In May a very large consignment of whalemeat arrived in the Port of London bearing a certificate
of unfitness for human consumption. The whalemeat was transferred to cold stores in the City and
was released, under the supervision of your officers, for animal feeding or industrial purpose. The
meat was hard frozen and it was quite impossible to examine it without thawing out. One bag was
so treated, but there was no detectable abnormality.
The reason for the meat being certified as unfit for human consumption was not ascertained.
The Ministry of Food's memorandum on the inspection and hygiene of whalemeat production sets
out the criteria of inspection by the veterinary officer in the floating factories and shore stations where
whalemeat or whalemeat products are produced. These criteria include in addition to the disease of
the whale, maximum times which may elapse between the various processes, killing, bleeding,
butchering, cooling and refrigeration.
It may be that this large consignment came from whales in regard to which this time schedule
had been, for some reason, exceeded.
Horsemeat.
In November at the request of a Regional Inspector of the Ministry of Food, one of your meat
inspectors visited a restaurant in the City and found 10 pieces of meat, weighing about 49 lbs. in a
refrigerated cabinet in the kitchen.
The proprietor admitted that this was horsemeat. but stated that it was for consumption by
himself and his staff.
No notice to the effect that horsemeat was served in the restaurant was displayed and there
was no mention of horsemeat on the menu cards.
The circumstances were referred to the City Solicitor, who decided that the evidence of sale was
insufficient to justify legal proceedings being taken against the proprietor.
Food Poisoning.
There was no outbreak of food poisoning in the City during the year, and only two cases of food
poisoning were notified. Both these cases were children in a hospital. One child had been in the
hospital for a month, but the source of infection was probably the other child who had been admitted
from Winchester and was discovered four days later to have a Salmonella typhi murium infection.
There was no further spread. The Medical Officer of Health of Winchester was informed of the
circumstances.
Food Hygiene.
I dealt at some length with this subject in my last Annual Report. Two of your inspectors
devote their whole time to the inspection of catering establishments, and at the time of their visits
give advice and instructions to the staffs on the principles and practice of food hygiene. I have given
careful consideration to the possibility of adopting methods of encouraging food hygiene, such as the
establishment of Clean Food Guilds, popular lectures and clean food exhibitions, one or more of which
have been tried in various other areas, and which have received a good deal of publicity. I have
not been able to evolve any scheme which I feel would give results of real practical value in the City.
With few exceptions neither the proprietors nor the employees of the catering establishments live
in the City, they arrive in time to prepare for the lunch-time rush, and when it is over, they clear up
and go home. The only time to put over to them any propaganda in relation to food hygiene is while
they are at work. This is not such a serious disadvantage as it may seem. I believe that health
propaganda has to be administered in homeopathic doses at frequent intervals ; too large a dose
either causes nausea, or at least is not assimilated, and consequently has no therapeutic value.
I therefore feel that the inspectors, by their personal conversations with the staff, achieve better
results than would result from formal lectures or films, even if an audience of those most needing
instruction could be assembled under conditions in the City.
For much the same reason I find it impracticable to start a Clean Food Guild in the City, and
moreover I always have the fear that, by ill-chance, an outbreak of food-poisoning would occur in
one of the catering establishments to which a certificate had been granted. Not during the year to
which this Report refers but during the current year (1951) an outbreak of mild food poisoning, involving
over 300 persons, has occurred in a modern well-equipped and well-administered industrial
canteen, to which I should have confidently granted a certificate, if such a scheme had been in operation
in the City. Neither the type nor the source of infection could be discovered. Unfortunate
incidents of this kind will inevitably occur from time to time, despite the best efforts of the officers
of a local authority.
I have wondered why we have, so far, escaped serious outbreaks of food poisoning, seeing that
there are over 1,000 catering establishments in the City, and well over a quarter of a million main
meals are served daily. The most probable reason seems to me to be that for the most part food,
particularly of the types most commonly associated with food poisoning, is eaten on the day, indeed
within a few hours, of its preparation. Consequently, even if the food is contaminated with food
poisoning organisms during preparation, there is not time for very considerable multiplication of
such organisms and for the elaboration of their toxins in harmful concentrations.
Under the conditions which have obtained in the last ten years, food supplies have only been
sufficient for the day, so there is perhaps something to be said for a hand to mouth existence.