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Harrow Council with such powers. Sampling of food stuffs with a view
to their being analysed, therefore, in this district is undertaken by the
staff of the Public Control Department of the Middlesex County Council
(Public Control Officer, Mr. S. J. Pugh, of County Offices, Great West
Road, Brentford). The public analyst is Mr. E. Voelsker, Stuart House,
1, Tudor Street, E.C.4. (Tel. No. Central 9026).
During 1946, 1,500 samples were submitted for examination by the
County Analyst ; 85 were found to be adulterated or to be not up to
standard. In addition, 4,422 samples were examined by officers of the
Public Control Department.
(E) HYGIENE OF FOOD.
Apart from an occasional outbreak of an infection such as typhoid
fever, which receives a certain measure of publicity, or the rarer instances
of food poisoning due to chemicals, relatively little is heard of the
relationship of food and infection. Yet it is felt that much of the gastrointestinal
upsets to which so many are subject must have their origin in
contaminated food, and the possibility or even the probability is that
infection of food or drink is responsible for a much greater proportion
of the upsets to which all are subject than it is ordinarily credited with.
Just as infection of water was not a serious public health problem
until water was distributed on a large scale, so infection of food stuffs
has assumed greater seriousness as the result of the increased extent to
which people are taking meals out rather than limiting their consumption
to that which has been prepared in their own homes. There is
a higher consumption of prepared foods. Shortage of hot water, soap,
towels and crockery increases the risks of infection, especially if associated
with an insufficiently trained kitchen staff.
The contamination of the food which may be the cause of trouble
might be chemical or bacterial. Where bacterial, it might be infection by
living organisms or only by their released toxins, in which case the food
acts as a chemical irritant. Chemicals which have been responsible for
poisoning have been added deliberately as preservatives or as colouring
agents ; they have gained entry at some stage of the preparation of food
and they have been absorbed from the food containers. Such outbreaks,
however spectacular, are not usually a serious public health problem.
There is a variety of organisms responsible for food poisoning, but
the most common can be divided into two groups, namely, the typical food
poisoning salmonella group, and that group of staphylococci which produce
a resistant toxin. These two groups gain entry from different
sources, typically infect different kinds of foods and result in different
clinical manifestations. The salmonella infection is mostly the result
of contamination of foodstuffs such as meat pies, etc., in which preparations
are used which are both liable to contamination and are themselves
favourable media for the multiplication of the organisms. Infection
may be by the hands of the humans, by inanimate objects such as contaminated
kitchen utensils, by flies and by rats. The staphylococci are
usually of human origin and may have their source in an infected finger
or nose. Control of the spread of infection by food and drink, therefore,
involves an attack being made at many points and on a very broad front.