Search results

By these we mean the parliamentary counsel responsible for drafting the many statutes and statutory instruments of every kind, against whom there has been much criticism in recent years for the mass of indigestible legislation, a little of it almost incomprehensible, inflicted on society generally. What prompts us to return to the subject, after so recently castigating it as “hurry scurry” law, is the Labelling of Food Regulations, 1970. Not that this particular measure is anything but good, but looking at it, one cannot help wondering what was the purpose of the 1967 Regulations; a useless exercise in law‐making, since they will never come into force, being precipitately revoked by the new ones. Nor does it seem to have been hurried legislation, since it followed the reports of the Food Standards Committee after a lapse of several years. However, instances in which measures have been rushed through the legislative process, to prove subsequently inadequate, perhaps unworkable in parts, and sometimes completely disastrous, are multiplying during the life of the last Parliament. This may not always be the fault of the ligislature, for sometimes a new problem emerges or grows so rapidly that the law cannot keep up with it; then there is excuse for measures being rushed through to cope.

Over the last decades, there has been an increasing interest among scientists on the linkage between population health and climate and environmental factors, as well as health impacts of climate change and climate variability. Numerous studies have been done and substantial results achieved, but mostly in the developed countries, and not much quantitative evidence or assessment of the impacts at national and local levels has been provided for developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the scientific information of various qualities of bael fruit juice used in traditional system of medicine for variety of purposes. Utilization of bael fruit juice in day-to-day life has great nutritional, therapeutic, and commercial importance. Bael fruit contains nutrients like vitamins (riboflavin), minerals, trace elements, energy and phytochemicals, including flavonoids, polyphenols and antioxidants, that have been shown to have varied health benefits. In past few decades, bael has been extensively studied for its medicinal properties by advanced scientific techniques, and a variety of bioactive compounds like marmelosin, tannins, alkaloids, coumarins, steroids, rutacine, y-sitosterol, psoralin, xanthotoxin, scopolotein, aegelemine, aegeline, marmeline, fragrine, dictamine, cinnamide and different derivatives of cinnamide have been isolated from its fruit juice.

The medicinal value of bael fruit is very high when the harvests just begin to ripen. As a result, it has a high demand as alternative medicine for curing the diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, peptic ulcer, inflammation, diarrhea and dysentery, constipation, respiratory infection. Furthermore, the bael fruit juice has anticancer, cardio protective, antibacterial, antifungal, radio protective, antipyretic, analgesic, antioxidant, antiviral, anthelmintic and anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, wound healing properties. The ripe fruit juice is aromatic, has cooling and laxative effects, and arrests secretion or bleeding.

The unripe or half-ripe fruit juice is good for digestion, useful in preventing or curing scurvy, and it strengthens the stomach action. It helps in the healing of ulcerated intestinal surfaces and has appreciable activity against intestinal pathogenic organisms. The present review summarizes the scientific information of various qualities of bael fruit juice used in traditional system of medicine for a variety of purposes.

It is quite evident from this review that bael is an important medicinal herb and extensively used in Ayurveda, Siddha and other medicinal systems. Bael fruit juice is an excellent source of water and natural sugar and is important principally for containing vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, pigments, energy, organic acids, dietary fiber and other food components, which are the key factors in the medicinal value of this plant. Moreover, mechanisms of action of a few bioactive compounds have been identified so far.

The Medical Research Council has issued a special report by Dr. W. G. Savage and Mr. Bruce White on food poisoning, based upon a study of 100 recent outbreaks in this country, most of which have not been previously published. The Report is prefaced by a general survey of the different causes of outbreaks of food poisoning, the epidemiological and clinical features of food poisoning, the paths of infection, and prevention of food poisoning. The report is a continuation of the special investigations of Dr. Savage and Mr. White, published in the Medical Research Council Report No. 91, and entitled “An investigation of the salmonella group, with special reference to food poisoning,” which dealt chiefly with the classification and distribution of the salmonella bacteria. By far the commonest cause of food poisoning in this country is infection of food by living salmonella bacteria or by the toxins of these microbes. Salmonella bacteria multiply rapidly in food without betraying their presence by any obvious decomposition, and they secrete powerful endotoxins capable of resisting temperatures as high as 100° C. In 20 of the 100 outbreaks recorded in this report living salmonella bacteria were proved to be the agents of infection, and in 14 of these 20 outbreaks B. aertrycke was the particular member of the group found. The isolation of these bacilli is a difficult procedure, for they are factidious in their diet, and it is worth while noting, in view of the remarks we make elsewhere about the more thorough investigation of outbreaks of food poisoning, that in 6 of these outbreaks the bacilli were only captured from material obtained at post‐mortem examinations; if this material had not been available the bacterial cause would not have been definitely established, though deductions might, of course, have been made from other examinations. It is well known that food in which salmonella bacteria have grown may continue to be poisonous after the bacilli themselves have been destroyed, because the toxin which these germs secrete is more resistant to heat than are the living cells. Food poisoning by the toxins of the salmonella bacteria alone is perhaps the most difficult of all to analyse, because ingestion of these toxins leaves no specific stamp upon the body tissues: thus agglutinins do not appear in the blood serum. It might be thought that the poisonous nature of the food could be demonstrated by feeding experiments on animals, but this method is not often successful because animals are exceptionally resistant to these toxins. The method of injecting extracts of suspected food parenterally has led to many false conclusions in the past, and does not now command much confidence. A promising new method of study was referred to in Report 91—namely, the possibility of demonstrating toxic properties in food by feeding animals with large quantities, killing the animal nine to twelve hours afterwards, and examining the stomach and intestines for evidence of inflammatory reaction. Another new method which we believe Dr. Savage was the first to employ, at any rate on an extensive scale, is the demonstration of the production of specific agglutinins to the salmonella bacilli through the injection into animals of suitable emulsions of the incriminated food. By one method of investigation or another the authors of this report have satisfied themselves that 17 out of the 100 outbreaks should be ascribed to salmonella toxins. Four of the outbreaks were caused by bacteria of the dysentery group. The chief interest of this observation is that it widens our view of food poisoning, for until recently it would have been denied that bacteria of the dysentery type could cause outbreaks of food poisoning indistinguishable in their clinical characters from salmonella infections. Only one outbreak of botulism—that at Loch Maree—is presented in this series. To summarise the cause of these 100 outbreaks of food poisoning, epidemiological and laboratory investigations, separately or together, provided evidence that 66 outbreaks were due to members of the salmonella group of bacilli, 4 to members of the dysentery group, and 1 to B. botulinus. The remainder were either of definitely chemical origin, or possibly due to some undetected microbe, or were not examples of true food poisoning.

The Ministry of Health have issued a Circular (No. 2198, November 25th, 1940) reminding local authorities of the measures which can usually be taken to protect the public against the spread of the diseases commonly conveyed by food, i.e., diseases of the enteric group (typhoid and paratyphoid fevers), dysentery, food poisoning and intestinal parasitism. The Circular continues: One of the commonest causes of the spread of the enteric diseases is the contamination of food, including milk, by the hands of persons excreting the causal organisms of the disease, whether they are actually suffering from the disease, or are chronic carriers of the infection, or are persons temporarily excreting the causal organisms without themselves being ill. The Milk and Dairies Order, 1926, confers on medical officers of health in Articles 18 and 19 powers relating to infected milk supplies and to persons having access to the milk, milk vessels, etc., at registered premises whose employment may be likely to lead to the spread of infectious disease. It also requires generally under Article 15 that every person engaged in the milking of cows or the distribution or measuring of milk or otherwise having access to the milk or to the churns or other milk receptacles shall keep his clothing and person in a cleanly condition. Article 23 of the Order requires that in connection with the milking of cows the hands of the milker shall be thoroughly washed and dried before milking, and throughout the milking be kept free from contamination. With respect to food and drink in general, provision is made in Part III of the First Schedule to the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 1927, whereby on a report by the medical officer of health, the local authority can (1) in any case of enteric fever or dysentery occurring in the district by notice in writing require, in addition to other precautions, that the person specified in the notice shall discontinue any occupation connected with the preparation or handling of food or drink for human consumption and (2) require the medical examination by the medical officer of health or a medical officer acting on his behalf of a person suspected by the medical officer of health to be a carrier of enteric fever or dysentery infection who is employed in any trade or business connected with the preparation or handling of food or drink for human consumption, and can suspend such person from his employment for a specified period if as a result of the examination or from bacteriological or protozoological examination of material obtained at any such examination, of material obtained at any such examination, the medical officer of health is of opinion that the person is such a carrier. Apart, however, from conditions which can be dealt with by the temporary discontinuance of work by persons actually suffering from the disease or found to be carriers of it, experience shows that outbreaks of disease of the enteric group and of food poisoning are not uncommonly caused, or their range extended, by the handling of food by persons who have not previously been suspected to be suffering from or carrying disease, and the Minister is advised that a substantial number of consequential cases could be avoided if all persons engaged in the preparation or handling of food intended for sale were habitually to take the elementary precautions required by law. The relevant statutory provisions as regards food other than milk are those contained in Section 13 (1) of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, which read as follows :—

The factors which influence costs of production of food and the prices to the consumer have changed dramatically during this century, but especially since the establishment of trading systems all over the world. Gone are the days when the simple expedients of supply and demand alone governed the situation. The erosion of these principles began at the turn of the century, mainly as a result of the introduction by the rapidly developing industrial power of the USA to protect her own industries against the cheaper products of European countries. They introduced the system of tariffs on imported manufactured goods; it grew and eventually was made to apply to wide sectors of industry. European countries retaliated but the free trade policy of Britain's Liberal government was making the country a dumping ground for all other country's cheap products and surpluses.

The frequency of reporting of foodborne infections of animal origin, in particular salmonella, campylobacter and Escherichia coli (VTEC) has increased in recent years due to changes in food production and processing methods in parallel with changes in eating habits and other social factors such as mass catering and the use of convenience foods. In contrast infections, primarily of human origin, in particular typhoid, paratyphoid and bacillary dysentery, are nowadays much less frequently associated with foodborne spread. Meanwhile, other “emerging” micro‐organisms of bacterial, viral and protozoal origin have increasingly frequently been reported with evidence of food or waterborne spread. Foodborne disease has also taken on an international dimension, highlighted by outbreaks associated with imported foods (e.g. cheese, chocolate, pate, etc.) and tourist groups. Presents a review of recent trends in foodborne infections.

Memories and musings of the long ago reveal revolutionary changes in the world's food trade and in particular, food sources and marketing in the United Kingdom. Earliest memories of the retail food trade are of many small shops; it used to be said that, given a good site, food would always sell well. There were multiples, but none of their stores differed from the pattern and some of the firms — Upton's, the International, were household names as they are now. Others, eg., the Maypole, and names that are lost to memory, have been absorbed in the many mergers of more recent times. Food production has changed even more dramatically; countries once major sources and massive exporters, have now become equally massive importers and completely new sources of food have developed. It all reflects the political changes, resulting from two World Wars, just as the British market reflects the shifts in world production.

There is no doubt that global climate change poses a threat to human health in a number of ways. Globally, 23% of all deaths in 2012 were attributed to the environment and an additional 250,000 potential deaths per year from 2030 to 2050 due to the effects of climate change. Heat waves, storms, droughts and floods pose an immediate risk of infectious diseases in humans. Temperature affects the survival rates of pathogens. Some populations and some areas are more vulnerable to infectious diseases due to their lack of ability to respond effectively to the stresses of high temperatures. Excessive rainfall could cause sewage to overflow and promote the onset and spread of infectious diseases ranging in severity from mild gastroenteritis to life-threatening illnesses such as cholera, dysentery and other diseases. Infectious diseases are a category of health problems that are particularly affected by climate change. Infections that occur are air-borne, water-borne and zoonotic. They are affected by the increase of the temperature, but also by the increase of the viral load in the water due to changes in the rainfall. Transmission can also take place through the migration of environmental refugees. Such an important topic could be the subject for students learning English. The purpose of this study will be to highlight the association of climate change with infectious-communicable diseases in order to take action and to create the structure by which students could learn English by studying these definitions.

A system which depends on a sequence of slow extensions and developments instead of on the sudden application of a thought‐out and comprehensive code is liable to present surprising lacunæ. Such a system we see in our laws and enactments relating to public health, and one of the most obvious of the lacunæ is in regard to the protection of certain of our food supplies from bacterial pollution. In some directions the safeguards are very efficient, in others they are inadequate or non‐existent. Dr. C. E. Goddard has recently drawn attention to the dangers of bacterial contamination from the sale of bread delivered without wrappers, of fruit—grapes, dates, and others—without any protection, while the numerous articles in grocers' shops which attract flies and which are not protected from them form other risks, the same being said of the fingering of meat in butchers shops. As Medical Officer of Health for the Wembley area, which includes the British Empire Exhibition, 1924, Dr. Goddard will be brought in contact with food problems of great importance. While many such sources of food pollution might be cited, it is perhaps easy to exaggerate their significance in respect of public health. They form serious defects in our methods of food distribution, but of considerably greater importance is the absence of adequate control over the preparation and of subsequent care in respect of what may be called “prepared meat foods” and the lack of supervision over those who handle foods destined for consumption by the public.