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48
Subsequently, the owner was summoned for having in his possession an
article intended for the food of man which was unsound and unfit for the food
of man.
At the hearing, the defendant altogether changed his defence, and alleged
that the stuff was perfectly fit for human food. At the Police Court, when
application was made for the order for destruction, he had denied that it was
intended for food at all, notwithstanding the fact that he had already sold some
of it for this purpose.
It became necessary to submit expert evidence on behalf of the Corporation,
and in the end, as shown elsewhere, the defendant was convicted and fined
10/. and twenty guineas costs.
In this case there was no question of a parcel of goods, a portion of which
had become unsound through possible damage on the voyage, or otherwise,
and a portion of which might be utilised.
It was a case in which the Port Sanitary Authority were justified in
summoning the owner in the interests of the public.
As has already been stated, these cases are happily very rare, and the general
experience is that merchants and others are generally glad to co-operate with
the Authority in preventing unsound food reaching the public.
The s.s. "Persia," of Greenock, official number 109,258, from Bombay,
arrived at Gravesend on the 27th January; the surgeon reported that
twenty-four cases of apparently ptomaine poisoning had occurred on
board during the voyage. The symptoms were those of acute diarrhoea,
vomiting, severe pains in the stomach, and in some cases fever. A
careful inquiry was made into all the foodstuffs used during the voyage, but
no cause for the outbreak could be ascertained. With the exception of the
engine-room staff, every department, including the passengers, was affected.
These included six officers, two quartermasters, eleven stewards, one lascar and
five passengers.
On the 19th March, I received notice from the Medical Officer of Health for
the City of London that a quantity of foodstuffs would be sold by public auction
on the 21st March. Some of the goods, about 1,600 cases, were lying in the
East India Dock, and I deemed it necessary to have them re-examined, as some
time had elapsed since their arrival. The result of the inspection was that
12 cases of tinned apricot puddings, four cases of tinned peach puddings, three
cases of tinned peach pies, seven cases of apricot pies, and 127 cases of apple
puddings were found to be unsound and unfit for human food, and were
accordingly seized.
During the year, a report appeared in the Press that flour in France was
adulterated with talc and other mineral matters.