CLEAN OR DIRTY?

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 194, 18 August 1931, Page 8

CLEAN OR DIRTY?

CITY MILK SUPPLY.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT TESTS.

MEDICAL OFFICER'S VIEWS.

FARM TO HOUSEHOLDER.

"To ensure a wholesome milk supply it" is necessary to obtain clean milk at the farm, the source of production," said Dr. T. J. Hughes, Medical Officer of Health, in replying to statements made last week at a meeting of the Auckland Whole Milk Producers' Association.

"No regulations as to storage, handling or distribution," he said, "can be effective unless the milk is initially clean and properly cooled immediately after milking. It often happens that the temperature of the milk distributed, especially in the summer months, is too high; and it is more necessary for pasteurised milk to be kept cooi than other milk.- A few farmers have installed cooling- plants at considerable expense, -with a corresponding improvement in results. While pasteurisation, if properly carried out, may be a protection against disease, it is essential that the product should be clean before treatment. . Pasteurisation, however, must not be regarded as a substitute for control at the farml" "Wild Statements" Wrong. Referring in detail to recent statements, Dr> Hughes said figures compiled by his Department snowed that the farmer-vendor was well able to hold his own as far as purity of supply was concerned. "The public," he said, '"'should disregard wild statements concerning epidemics being caused by the milk supply. They are riot borne out by facts, and are likely to create a feeling of uneasiness." Local authorities were responsible for the inspection of all premises where milk was sold, and the Health Department prohibited the sale of-milk from any place where vegetables were kept. "While disagreeing with the statement that • there are hundreds of farmers who should be prohibited from sending milk to the city," he continued, "I believe nevertheless there is room for improvement in , milk production methods. "I favour the system of delivery in sealed containers, but it must not be forgotten that even where this method is in vogue the public has to rely on the roundsman's integrity, as isolated cases have come under the notice of the Department, where. the. person delivering has placed milk in a bottle that has been left out for- replacement. It is essential that bottles should be properly washed and sterilised, and in this respect one modern plant has now been installed in Auckland. I agree with Dr. Savage, the eminent English authority on foods, who said: 'Clean milking, is a process—not a thing that can be obtained by regulations as to structural requirements, supplies of water laid on and the like. It can be obtained only by education iu some form or other, and such education can only be carried out by personal contact, with the milkman on the farm. . Cleanliness Not Paia For. • "There has been no general'discrimination: as far.ae the price paid to the •farmer is concerned, whether the milk is clean or dirty, payment being on the -basis of butterfat content. One firm instituted a system of paying on the test for cleanliness, but has now abandoned the innovation. The argument of some farmers in the past was: 'Why should I bother about, cleanliness when I get nothing additional for. my labour? The milk is. going to, the depot, where it is cleaned, and that should be sufficient.'" Dr. Hughes classified milk vendors into four sections as follows:—Firms collecting milk from the farms and transporting it to city depots, where it was pasteurised and to a limited extent bottled before sale; roundsmen who purchased direct from pasteurising firms; .roundsmen who purchased direct from farmers; farmers who sold direct to the public. The regulations under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act specified that milk must not be sold containing less than 8.5 per cent of milk solids other than milk fat, and not less than 3.25 per cent of milk fat. It must not contain added water or other substances. Provision was made also for a reductase test to determine the number of bacteria in the milk. The Health Department's duty was to test milk distributed to householders, and of 300 samples taken in Auckland and suburbs for the year ended in June last only 4.6 per cent were found below- the standard eet by regulations. Careful Analysis. The samples were classified into groups according to the classification of vendors. It was found that of the samples taken from roundsmen distributing milk for firms with pasteurising plants 5.8 per cent did not comply with regulations, of which 2.9 per cent had insufficient fat, and 2.9 per cent added water. Of the samples taken from vendors purchasing from firms with pasteurising plants, 4.3 per cent did not comply with requirements, insufficient fat content representing 3.23 per cent and non-compliance with the reductase test 1.07 per cent. Taking the last two groups together, the samples not complying with regulations comprised 4.7 per cent, made up of: Insufficient fat, 3.12 per cent; added water, 0.79 per cent; not complying with the reductase test, 0.79 per cent. Of the samples taken from roundsmen purchasing direct from the farm and distributing on their own behalf 5.2 per cent did not comply with the regulation-, all being found to have water added. Of the samples taken from farmers vending their own milk 3.9 per cent did not come up to standard, added water representing 2.6 per cent and failure to comply with the reductase test 1.3 per cent. Milk Fat. The milk fat conten J of the samples taken from roundsmen employed by firms owning pasteurising plants averaged 3.9 per cent, and the fat content of the milk sold by farmer vendors 4.5 ]»er cent. "Taking the reductase test as an indication of the cleanliness of milk," eaid Dr. Hughes, "it was. ascertained that the percentage of milk samples sold by pasteurising firms or by vendors purchasing from such firms not complying with the test was 0.79 per cent, while the percentage of samples obtained from roundsmen who received their supplies from other sources than pasteurising firms was 0.C5 per cent. Bacteria in Milk. "No standard is set by statute as far as bacteriological teats are concerned, but up to two years ago unofficial samples were examined, and the results supplied to interested parties in an endeavour to assist the Agricultural Department in the inspection of farme. The work ha<* been curtailed since then, owing to the financial depression, all Departments having been instructed to «ut down expenditure. In fairness to all concerned, I must point out that owing

to the necessarily limited number of such samples the results of the bacteriological tests were used only as an approximate guide to the position at that time, but it is significant that the figures pointed to the fact that in the last year of the tests farmers milking their own cows and vending the product themselves supplied a greater proportion of clean milk to householders than did vendors who purchased from the farms and distributed on liei- own behalf. Of the samples obtained from the rounds from vendors who purchased their milk from farmers and samples taken from farmer-vendors, 61 per cent were equal to the British raw milk standard, and of the samples taken from vendors of pasteurised milk 03 per cent were equal to' the British standard for pasteurised milk." High Temperatures. Referring to tests made up to the time that bacteriological examinations were curtailed, Dr. Hughes said there was too large a proportion of samples in which the bacteria counts were too high, as ■ far as farmers' raw milk was concerned. The temperature at which the milk was delivered was also too high, especially in J .'.e summer months. The bacterial count depended not only on cleanlinc-ss in the milking, but on proper cooling directly after milking, the length of time elapsing before delivery to the householder and the temperature at which 5 -■-s stored and delivered.

"The. less the cooling at the farm, the higher the temperature at which the milk, is store," before delivery, and the longer the Mire elapsing before delivery," concluded Dr. Hughes, "the higher will be the bac erial count."