Food, hygiene, and the laboratory. A short history of food poisoning in Britain, circa 1850-1950

Public health concern with food safety and food poisoning emerged in Britai n in the 1880s following the first indication that acute gastric illness wa s caused by a specific organism. Although incidents were for many years onl y sparsely reported, the central medical department and its scientists were anxious to extend their knowledge of the incidence, specific causal organi sms, and epidemiology of the illness. This paper argues for a widespread in cidence of food poisoning in Britain in the nineteenth century and traces t he social, economic, and hygienic contexts within which it occurred. As dea dlier infections retreated, food poisoning became an increasing concern of local and national health authorities, who sought both to raise public awar eness of the condition as illness, and to regulate and improve food handlin g practices. Notification of cases was begun in 1939, and this, together wi th social changes during and after the Second World War, produced an escala ting spiral of reported incidents which still continues. This trend, it is argued, is essentially an artefact, whose significance is reduced if consid ered in its broader historical context.