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Conclusion.
The result of the examination of the 30 samples of tinned,
or canned, foods, taken promiscuously from the smaller shops
within the Borough of Lambeth, would appear to shew that
the contained articles of food are wholesome and fit for
human consumption. In one instance only (sardines) was
the food found to be unsound and non-sterile, as shewn by
the presence, on bacteriological examination, of putrefactive
bacilli (streptococci, etc.).
Of the 16 samples in which metallic contaminations were
discovered, in 11 the amounts of such metallic contaminations
were mere traces, and, consequently, may be disregarded
from a point of view of health to the consumer. In
the other 5 cases however, heavy traces of tin (4), and copper (1),
respectively, were found, but in this connection there is a
question as to whether the presence of such tin and copper
is in a form likely to be absorbed by the digestive organs of
the consumer, it being a well-known chemical and physiological
fact that copper and tin may combine, under certain
conditions, with vegetable and animal matters, thereby
forming a compound, which is, as far as the consumer is
concerned, practically harmless.
The question of the conditions under which, and the places
in which, foods are tinned, or canned, or otherwise preserved,
is one calling for strict supervision at all times;
whilst the importance of a systematic inspection and examination
of all foods previous to canning, or tinning, goes
without saying.
The law might, with advantage, be altered so as to
-secure—
(1) that in the case of all canned, or tinned, foods the
food shall be inspected by independent officials,
prior to being canned, or tinned, and shall be
canned, or tinned, under strict hygienic conditions;
(2) that it shall unlawful to sell, for any purpose,
canned, or tinned, goods that are unfit for human
consumption (including those cans and tins which
are known in the trade as "doubtfuls"), and that