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in which they are prepared for sale and exposed on the vendor's
stall. More satisfactory results would be obtained from enquiries
into outbreaks of enteric fever in which shell fish have come under
suspicion, if the wholesale source from which the fish were obtained
could be readily traced. Similar outbreaks occurring in different
districts at the same time might in this way be rapidly traced to a
common gathering ground or other centre of contamination, and
the necessary measures taken, without loss of time, to stop the
mischief at its source. I feel confident that if the powers at present
being sought by the County Council of Middlesex for compelling
ice cream vendors to place on their barrows the wholesale source
from which their milk is obtained, were made to apply in a similar
way to vendors of shell fish, the public would benefit by the
increased facilities that would be available for bringing home to its
source the contaminating factor in this very common article of
diet.
As regards fried fish no definite evidence, beyond the number of
patients who were fried fish eaters, could be obtained, and as I
believe that this form of food is consumed by a very large proportion
of our population, it would not be safe to attach too much
weight to these figures. It was remarked, however, that several of
the patients volunteered the information that they had eaten fried
fish on a date that fitted in, as regards incubation period, with the
onset of their illness. Others definitely ascribed the onset of their
illness to a certain meal of fried fish that had disagreed with them.
There is no doubt that the conditions under which many fried fish
businesses are carried on are insanitary and unwholesome. The
quality of fish employed is often poor, and being of small size they
are in many cases not properly cleaned. In and around London
fried fish is becoming more and more the food of the people, and is,
in this way, an annually increasing factor in their bodily welfare
and general health. It is time, therefore, that steps should be taken
by public health authorities to see that this trade is carried on
under hygienic conditions.