Sale of Food and Drugs

Abstract

THE annual report of the Ministry of Health for 1937-1938 contains some very interesting information relating to the results of the examination of samples of food and drugs by public analysts in England and Wales. In all, 151,370 samples of food and drugs were examined, and of these the surprisingly high number of 8,401 or 5 per cent were reported against. The distribution of the adulteration among the counties and towns is amusing, but the differences in sampling probably makes the comparison of the different areas inconclusive. Oxfordshire and West Suffolk lead the English counties with 24.2 and 25.8 per cent of adulterated samples respectively, and the city of Oxford does little to redeem this with 12.5 per cent, which is high among the boroughs. These figures may well be compared with 8.4 per cent in Cambridgeshire and 5.1 per cent in Cambridge itself. The metropolitan boroughs show a quite low rate of adulteration, the worst being Shoreditch, with 11.1 per cent.