London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Harrow 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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92
FOOD AND DRUGS
The work undertaken in this field falls into two main parts—(1) the
investigation of complaints and (2) the routine sampling of foodstuffs and
other commodities.
The investigation of the complaints received and the organisation
of the sampling programme was undertaken by a Senior Inspector, Mr.
F. W. Fowler. The samples taken for chemical analysis were submitted
to the Public Analyst, Mr. E. Voelcker, while those for bacteriological
examination were sent to either the Public Health Laboratories at Park
Royal or to Colindale. Others were dealt with within the Department.
Following is a summary of the samples taken and the results obtained-:
| Commodity | Taken | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bacteriological | Milk | 229 | 201 | 28 |
| Milk Bottles | 5 | 5 | – | |
| Other Foods | 12 | 12 | – | |
| Ice Cream | 112 | 84 | 28 | |
| Cream | 183 | 115 | 68 | |
| Water | 47 | 47 | – | |
| Miscellaneous | 61 | 61 | – | |
| Chemical by Department | Milk | 92 | 90 | 2 |
| Other Foods | – | – | – | |
| Chemical by Public Analyst | Food and Drugs Fertilizers/ | 221 | 217 | 4 |
| Feeding Stuffs | 142 | 122 | 20 | |
| grand total | 1,104 | 954 | 150 | |
| total bacteriological | 649 | 525 | 124 | |
| total chemical | 455 | 429 | 26 |
FOOD COMPLAINTS
The following is a summary of the complaints received about either the presence of foreign matter or the condition of foodstuff.
| Complaints | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Milk | Foreign matter | 9 | |
| Poor quality | 6 | ||
| Dirty bottles | 14 | ||
| 29 | |||
| 29 |