View report page

Food Poisoning.
All the seven persons notified as having suffered from food
poisoning during 1950 were isolated cases. Various items of food
were alleged to be responsible in each case, but unfortunately none
of the patients had retained any remnants of food for examination.
The illness in each case was of short duration.
Food Hygiene.
During the year the campaign to improve food hygiene in the
Borough was pressed forward. The following programme was
arranged :—
(a) A series of lectures both for the food handling trade and the
public were given, but unfortunately these lectures were very
poorly attended.
(b) A Clean Food Exhibition followed shortly afterwards, in May.
This was most attractively displayed in the Town Hall and
attracted considerable attention. About 2,000 members of the
general public visited the Exhibition during the six days it
was open ; in addition, the Medical Officers of Health and
Sanitary Staffs from all the adjoining districts attended and
were most impressed with all that they saw. The Exhibition
covered every aspect of food hygiene and indicated the methods
to be adopted to prevent food becoming infected.
(c) Model Byelaws: During 1950 the Chingford Borough Council
adopted the Model Byelaws of the Ministry of Food concerning
the Handling, Wrapping and Delivery of Food and Sale
of Food in the Open Air. These byelaws came into force on
the 14th August, 1950. A copy of them has been sent to
every food trader in the Borough.
Typhoid Fever.
Early in January, 1950, a person was notified in the Borough
as suffering from Typhoid Fever. Prompt enquiries were instituted
and a detailed history of the patient's movements during several
weeks previously was obtained, with particular reference to places
where food was consumed.
It was noticed from the Registrar-General's returns of infectious
diseases that cases of Typhoid Fever had been notified in an
adjoining borough and in several London boroughs during the
previous few weeks and enquiries from them focussed attention on
a particular cafe in the adjoining borough. The Medical Officer
of Health of the latter was informed and as a result of his investigations
a member of the staff employed at this cafe was found to
be excreting typhoid organisms of the same type as the Chingford
case, viz. : phage type E.l.
28