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
City of London 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Port of London]
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(3) SAMPLES OF FOOD EXAMINED DURING THE YEAR.
| (a) Bacteriologist— | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date. 1937. | Sample. | Result of Analysis. | Action taken. | ||
| Jan. 11 | Toheroas Shell Fish | Condition of Sample—1 small piece of tin, about 1¼ in. square, found amongst contents of can. | None. | ||
| General appearance—Strong-smelling brownish fluid (?? curried). | |||||
| No. of micro-organisms developing on gelatin (aerobically) at 68° F. (3 days) averaged 96 per c.c. | |||||
| No. of micro-organisms developing on agar (aerobically) at 98° F. (48 hours) averaged 256 per c.c. B. Coli absent from 50 to 0.001 c.c. of sample. | |||||
| Coliform organisms not present. | |||||
| Other organisms—Streptococci and B. Welchi not present. Films show a gram positive coccus only. | |||||
| Remarks.—From a bacteriological point of view this is a satisfactory specimen. | |||||
| Oct. 15 | Drinking water | Condition of water—Cloudy. | All drinking- water tanks were emptied and thoroughly cleansed before taking in fresh water. | ||
| General appearance—Slight deposit. | |||||
| No. of micro-organisms developing on gelatin (aerobically) at 68 deg. F. (three days), averaged 360,000 per c.c. | |||||
| No. of micro-organisms developing on agar (aerobically) at 98 deg. F. (48 hours), averaged 439,000 per c.c. | |||||
| Bacillus coli (typical) absent from 50 to 0.001 per c.c. of sample. | |||||
| Coliform organisms—B. lactis aerogenes and B. acidi lactici isolated from water. | |||||
| Other organisms—Streptococci not present. B. Welchi not present. Negative for typhoid group. | |||||
| Remarks—In view of the high bacterial contents and the presence of coliform organisms, I consider that this water is unfit for drinking purposes. | |||||
| (b) Analyst:— | |||||
| 1937. | |||||
| Jan. 1 | Sugar | Contained 0.17 grains of tin per pound. | None. | ||
| „ 7 | Sugar Strands | Free from the presence of prohibited colouring matter. | None. | ||
| „ 8 | Sardines | Contained 7 parts of lead per million. | None. | ||
| „ 9 | Yeast Tablets | Found to be free from the presence of arsenic, B. Coli Communis, and other deleterious ingredients. In addition the yeast was found to be in an active condition. | None. | ||
| „ 11 | Sardines | Contained 4 parts of lead per million. | None. | ||
| „ 12 | Dried Apple Pomace | The sedimentation test in carbon tetrachloride, when applied to this sample, gave 0.85 % of a black substance, of which 35.6 % was carbonaceous matter, the remainder being sand and siliceous matter, no poisonous metals were detected. | None. | ||
| „ 12 | Smoked Salmon | Contained 40 parts of benzoic acid per million. | Re-exported. | ||
| „ 12 | Smoked Salmon | Contained 35 parts of benzoic acid per million. | Ditto. | ||
| „ 15 | Sardines | Contained 5 parts of lead per million. | None. | ||
| „ 18 | Tinned Fish (3) | These samples on examination gave the following results :— | None. | ||
| Sample. | Tin, Grains per pound. | Lead, parts per million. | |||
| Sild | 0.5 | 2 | |||
| Kipper Snacks | None | 1 | |||
| Sild | None | 1 | |||
| „ 18 | *Smoked Salmon | Contained 870 parts of benzoic acid per million. | Be-exported. | ||