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Other methods of destruction
(a) It had been suggested that the apples be taken out to sea and dumped. It was pointed out,
however, that it was doubtful whether the cases of apples would sink and extreme care would have
to be taken to ensure that the apples were not washed ashore along the coast, there to be retrieved
and perhaps eaten by the many holiday makers and their children.
(b) The question as to whether the apples could be destroyed by dumping them on a recognised
refuse shoot was considered,but here again care would have to be taken to see that apples, which
outwardly appear to be sound, were not at the disposal of any unauthorised person. This opinion
appears to be justified for your Medical Officer undertsands that where apples were dumped in this
manner at Hull, they were rifled by unauthorised persons resulting in Police Court proceedings
for so doing.
Over the week-end of the 23rd/24th (Saturday and Sunday), Mr. Dring and his staff spent the
whole of their time examining and classifying the various marks and varieties of apples concerned
and arriving at a decision as to the percentage of apples of the various varieties affected
with 'Brown Heart'.
As a result of this inspection your Medical Officer, after himself seeing the staff at work and
after consulting Mr. Comptroller and City Solicitor, issued Seizure Notices to the Importers
concerned, as follows:—
(a) Those who were interested in the varieties "Granny Smith" and/or "Democrat" were
served with a Seizure Notice seeking authority to SORT the parcel.
(b) Those interested in other varieties (save "King Pippin", "Stone Pippin", and "Rome
Beauty") were issued with a Seizure Notice seeking authority to DESTROY the parcel.
As the result of issuing the above Notices one firm of Importers interested in a fairly large
consignment of apples coming under category (b) above, expressed their intention of exercising
their right under the Regulations and requested that the matter be dealt with by a Justice.
Before proceeding further in the matter your Medical Officer informed the Importer of the terms
of Part IV. Section 15(1) of the Regulations, which reads as follows :—
"Where in pursuance of these Regulations an application is made to a justice in
respect of an article of food and the justice is satisfied that the article of food
is diseased or unsound or unwholesome or unfit for human consumption, he shall
condemn the article of food and order it to be destroyed or disposed of under the
supervision of the Medical Officer of Health by such means and in such manner
as to prevent its being used for human consumption."
It was pointed out that should the justice issue such an order it would preclude any possibility
of the apples being used for the manufacture of cider and/or vinegar. In other words the apples
would have to be totally destroyed in such a manner as to prevent their being used for human
consumption.
On consideration of this point the Importer immediately decided to withdraw his request and
sent a representative to this office to collect the letter making the request.
At this stage(26th July) the Federation informed your Medical Officer that they were calling a
meeting of their Members on the 28th July to agree upon a policy. At this meeting it was decided
to appoint a small sub-committee of four members, including the Secretary of the Federation, with
power of attorney to act on behalf of the members, particularly in relation to the use of the
apples for cider or vinegar manufacture.
The Federation apparently opened negotiations with the cider firm on the question of payment for
removal of the apples, your Medical Officer having pointed out to the Federation that this was a
question which they must settle between themselves. Arising out of these negotiations the Federation
requested that the cider firm be allowed to draw samples from thecondemned apples in order that
they might testthem foracid content which would enable them to arrive at a fair price. Samples were
released for this purpose on 29.7.55 but the cider firm stated that,owing to the intervention of the
August Bank holiday, they would not be able to make an offer until Tuesday, 2nd August, and it
was not until late in the afternoon of Wednesday, 3rd August, that an agreement was reached.
On Thursday, 4th August, the cider firm signed the guarantee required by your Medical Officer
and the removal of the apples from the dock to their premises commenced. The Medical Officer
of Health of the district concerned was informed both by telephone and confirmatory letter.
Meanwhile the National Federation of Fruit and Potato Trades, in confirmation of a telephone
call, had forwarded a letter to your Medical Officer in which they stated that they had been
instructed on behalf of the Importers, to request the release to the cider firm of apples which had
been found to be unfit for consumption as fresh apples, on the understanding that these apples
would be used only for manufacturing purposes.
Discharge and collection of the apples continued daily and was completed on the 9th August,
twenty-two days after the vessel had berthed.
The following is a summary of the action taken —
TOTAL CONSIGNMENT - 110,430 cases apples.
Released — 26,289 cases — 23.8%
Destroyed* — 84,141 cases = 76.2%
*"Destroyed" in this report means sent for cider making.
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