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It has seemed appropriate, therefore, to include some notes which follow on imported food,
and although these would turn the attention normally of readers to the Port Health Services, for
the reasons stated in this introduction the section is included this year in the Annual Report of
the City of London Health Services.
Fitness for human consumption of imported food is normally determined at port of entry and
before distribution by one or more of three examinations; the organoleptic, whereby a decision
as to soundness relies upon the appearance, smell, taste and feel; the analytical, which determines
the chemical composition and condition, and the bacteriological, which indicates the degree
of sterility or the presence of contaminating micro-organisms.
The volume of food imported into the Port of London of an annual value of some £m650
necessarily imposes its own limitations of examination to the physical capacity of the staff
available in the ports and in the laboratories to undertake it. Staff and laboratory capacity are
not readily flexible factors whereas the picture of imports may rapidly change, and within these
limitations the best use of all available resources must be planned to secure the greatest return
for the efforts spent.
Imported food may be divided roughly into three categories, each having its own peculiarities
and problems.
(1) Meat is the most valuable import into the Port and City of London, with the Port as
discharge centre and Smithfield Market as distribution centre. In 1959 this import was
valued at £ml87.
(2) Canned foods,from corned beef to chocolate coated ants, form a category of their own.
(3) The remaining items consist broadly of dairy products, fish and fish preparations,
cereals and cereal preparations, fruits and vegetables, sugar and sugar preparations,
coffee, cocoa and cocoa preparations, tea, spices and beverages, increasing in diversity
year by year.
Meat inspection is an art in its own right in which experience is the most important factor
when dealing with s uch huge quantities at conveyor-like rapidity.
In recent years the introduction of "boned-out" meat imports has brought its own train of
problems. The Imported Food Regulations permit the removal of such glands as are "necessarily
removed in the preparation of the meat" and too often those glands considered to be necessarily
available for inspection are removed under the protection of the clause.
Bacteriological examination has indicated that the additional handling necessitated by the
"boning-out" process has provided the means for salmonella and other contamination. The danger
of this contamination lies not so much in the consumption of the meat which invariably undergoes
a process of heating before consumption, but as a source of contamination that could be spread
throughout a plant engaged in the manufacture of meat pies, sausages, etc., before the application
of any heating process. For this reason sampling is now regularly carried out for bacteriological
examination and where circumstances so dictate, the Authorities of the country of origin are
informed and requested to deal with the matter at source.
The variety of canned foods increases year by year, each new variety being subjected to a
general organoleptic examination, analysis for the presence of preservative, colouring matter,
metallic contamination and other adulterations where these are either prohibited or allowed in
definite permissible amounts, and when considered advisable, bacteriological examination.
In the case of unsound cans bacteriological or analytical examination will often indicate the
cause of the breakdown and the answer may be found in improved conditions of processing or
storage.
There remains the endless variety of "other commodities" each required to be "fit for human
consumption" by criteria laid down by Statute, Regulation or Order.
Increasing use is being made of the bacteriological examination in assessing fitness of food
for human consumption, and items of food hitherto accepted as free of criticismy as a result of
such examination, have been found to fall short of the high standard considered necessary in an
article of food.
Imported egg products, boned-out meat, coconut, prawns and cheese are items which have
been subjected to intensive endeavours to secure an article free from bacterial contamination,
often of a food poisoning type.
It is felt that even in the absence of any evidence that the consumption of a certain commodity
has at any time caused food poisoning symptoms, the elimination of organisms capable of
causing food poisoning is an elementary precaution that any authority charged with the duty of
ensuring that a safe food supply only enters the country could not afford to ignore.
It should be stressed that the objective is not bacteriological sterility, which is neither
necessary nor wise, as possibly nullifying any natural immunity that may have become established.
The child is affected by these organisms when the healthy adult can ingest them in his
stride usually without any untoward result.
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