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(8) Weevil in bread.
(9) Cigarette end in bread.
(10) Fly in biscuit.
(11) Foreign matter in bread.
(12) Beetle in bread.
(13) Piece of metal in butter.
(14) Foreign matter in bottle of milk.
(15) Weevil in bread.
(16) Meal-worm in roll.
(17) Needle in loaf.
(18) Piece of metal in biscuit.
Food Poisoning
The danger to the public health arising from contamination
of food has long been recognised and, as far back as 1902, a London
County Council General Powers Act contained provisions for
protecting ice-cream from contamination, whilst a similar Act
in 1908 regulated the sanitary condition of premises where food
was prepared or stored.
In 1932 another London County Council General Powers Act
required medical practitioners to notify cases of food poisoning
coming to their knowledge, and also required the registration of
ice-cream premises and certain specified food premises. Local
authorities were empowered to refuse registration in cases where
premises were unsuitable, although the applicants were given the
right to appeal to the Court against the refusal to register. These
and other enactments relating to the preparation and handling
of food were consolidated in the Food and Drugs Act, 1938.
How great is the need for all persons engaged in preparing or
handling food to take stringent precautions against contaminating
the food may be illustrated by the following report on an outbreak
of food poisoning which occurred during 1936.
On the 24th July, 1936, I received a notification of a case of
food poisoning from a general practitioner in the borough, and it
was found that four of the five members of the household had been
affected with diarrhoea and abdominal pain. The four sufferers
had eaten brawn purchased from a local firm of provision dealers
on the 18th July, but the fifth person in the house, who had escaped
indisposition, had not eaten any of the meat. Three days later I
received information from medical practitioners of a further twelve
persons, members of four households, who were suffering from food
poisoning and had also eaten brawn purchased from the same shop.
It was not possible to obtain specimens of the actual brawn
supplied to the patients as it had all been consumed, but samples
of the brawn then on sale in the shop and of each of the various