[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Liverpool Port Health Authority.

  • Port Health Authority of Liverpool. n 2014184020.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Liverpool Port Health Authority. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tins which had been landed from the vessel “Nerissa” earlier in the year. During the course of the inspection a supplementary consignment of identical origin, consisting of 532 cartons each containing 24 x 11-oz. tins, arrived from London. These tins were also completely examined. Sound, doubtful and blown tins were submitted for both bacteriological and analytical examination. No evidence of bacterial contamination was detected. Analytical examination, however, showed a very high proportion of tin in the fruit and juice. The permitted level of tin is 280 parts per million, expressed as a fraction of dry solids: the specimens submitted for examination showed an average quantity of tin exceeding 1,100 parts per million. It appears that the tin had not been adequately lacquered, and the high acidity of the fruit juice had dissolved the metal of the container, leading to an excess of tin in the grapefruit and the production of hydrogen gas which led to blowing and bursting of the tin concerned. Half of all the tins examined were found to be affected by this condition, known as “hydrogen swell”. Accordingly all three consignments were rejected and the importers were informed of the reason for the unsatis¬ factory nature of the consignment and were advised to use tins which had been properly lacquered in the future. Plums from Yugoslavia A consignment of 250 cartons of plums, produce of Yugoslavia, each carton containing 6 x 7-lb. tins, was landed from the vessel “Patrician” in January. Examination on the quay showed that a quantity of tins were blown. A full examination was therefore undertaken. 1,044 x 7-lb. tins were found to be blown and burst: these tins were therefore rejected. Tomatoes from Bulgaria A consignment of 1,000 crates of tomatoes, each containing 12 x 1 ^ lb. glass jars, produce of Bulgaria, was ianded from the vessel “Christo Botev” in April. It was observed that certain jars were leaking and a full examina¬ tion was undertaken: this led to the rejection of 63 crates. A further examination was made after an interval of three weeks and 50 per cent of the jars were found to be leaking. Samples were sent for bacteriological examination and contamination with aerobic spore-bearing organisms, diphtheroid organisms, and fungal hyphae was reported. The full consignment was accordingly rejected.