DODGY LOCAL ICE CREAM
In the ‘good old days’ before Health & Safety and food regulations, eating local
ice-cream could be a risky business. Towards the end of May 1937 following a fete
at Dowlish Wake there was a serious outbreak of food poisoning in the surrounding
area including Thorncombe which was traced back by the authorities to an un-named
ice-cream maker in Chard.
According to an article in The Journal of Hygiene published in 1938, written
by Sir William Savage, former Somerset County Medical Officer of Health, a total
of 53 cases were recorded in Ilminster and Chard Rural Districts which included
Winsham, with a further 26 cases listed in Thorncombe. Altogether there were 124
reported cases including Crewkerne and Chard.
It turned out that the infected ice-cream had been made in a dirty lock-up garage
by mixing up ice cream powder, milk, eggs and sugar. The mixture was then put into
a metal canister and frozen overnight using a mixture of ice and salt, then sold
the next day. As there was no running water in the garage, the spoons, whisks,
mixing bowls etc were taken back to the ice-cream maker’s nearby home, a condemned
back-to-back house, where the washing up water was heated up either on an open fire
or gas ring.
An investigation by the Taunton Medical Officer was unable to establish for sure
the source of the infection, identified as a mild form of Sonne dysentery. So no
further action was taken against the vendor, despite the unhygienic conditions in
which the ice-cream was made. Also this was the first time an outbreak of food poisoning
has been pinned on the ice-cream maker who had been in business for several years.
If the case had gone to court and been unproven, the ice-cream vendor could have
sued the local authority for compensation. So the case was dropped. Luckily nobody
died.
EVE HIGGS
August 2011
