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30
FOOD POISONING.
The following particulars relating to a death in the Borough which there are
grounds for believing was due to food poisoning are of interest and are recorded
accordingly:—
A woman, named Sarah F—,aged 34, belonging to a Jewish household resident
in Shoreditch, was admitted to St. Leonard's Hospital in a state of collapse about
midday on September 1st, 1922. She died about 1.30 a.m. on September 2nd, and
during the course of the same morning the death was reported over the telephone
by Dr. Feldman as one of suspected food poisoning. Upon the circumstances being
enquired into the following information was obtained
The deceased was taken ill about midnight on August 27th or early in the
morning of the 28th with faintness, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. She
was under treatment at home by her medical attendant until her removal to St.
Leonard's Hospital on September 1st. A man named Solly P—, a resident in the
same house was also taken ill about 1.30 a.m. ori August 28th with abdominal pains
and discomfort, faintness, vomiting and diarrhoea. He was not in Shoreditch at
the time of the onset of symptoms, but at a house in Stepney, where his father and
mother, and other members of his family resided. He was too ill to return to his
home in this Borough until late in the clay, when he recovered somewhat, but he
remained very unwell for five or six days. The family resident in Shoreditch consisted
of the deceased, Solly P—, and five children, aged respectively 11, 7, 5, 3
years, and 3 months. The oldest of the children was observed to be slightly unwell
during the 28th August, but he quickly recovered. The rest of the children were so
far as could be ascertained unaffected. The family in Stepney comprised, besides
the parents of Solly P—, his two brothers and three sisters. There was also a male
lodger in the house. The history obtained indicates that the mother, all the daughters,
and the two sons fell ill about midnight on the 25th August or early in the morning
of the 26th, and that the illness was similar to that in the Shoreditch household.
They were attended by a doctor until August 30th, when they all seem to have recovered.
The articles of food taken by the family in Shoreditch were:—On August 26th,
corned beef purchased in Brick Lane, Stepney, during the morning, and salt beef,
purchased in Church Street, Bethnal Green, in the evening, the same being eaten
with beetroot, cucumber and brown vinegar. On August 27th the whole of the
family, except the infant, had chicken broth in the afternoon, which was brought
from the Stepney household about the middle of the same day. It was in a jelly,
and is said to have tasted quite all right and nothing was noticed in connection with
it to excite suspicion. The food taken by the family in Stepney on August 25th
included sardines (Marie Elisabeth brand) in the afternoon, of which all partook
except the father, and chicken broth in the evening. All had chicken broth, including
the lodger. The chicken broth had been made earlier in the day. It was what was
left of this broth that was brought to the house in Shoreditch and consumed by the
family there on 27th August, somewhere about 48 hours after it had been made. So