CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 262, 4 November 1944, Page 4

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

MILK SUPPLIES

(To the Editor) It has been my intention not to engage in the controversy regarding raw and pasteurised milk in your columns. However, your corresnon. dent, Mr. W. E. Cayley Alexander makes certain statements which are erroneous and should be corrected. His statement that there is no pasteurised milk in England is entirely wrong. Pasteurisation has been practised in England on a steadily increasing scale since the process was first introduced and it woalcfrbe correct to say that the great balk of all the milk coming into tie larger cities is pasteurised, while many hundreds of smaller pasteurising units are dotted all over the country. Since the outbreak of -war there has been a further substantial increase in the amount of milk pasteurised. On January 20 of this year regulations were passed whereby in specified areas all milk must be (a) pasteurised, (b) tuberculin tested, or (c) sold direct from single "accredited" herds. As only a small proportion of the herds in England comply with the requirements for grades b and c, it follows that the regulation is for all practical purposes equivalent to compulsory pas. teurisation. Mr. Alexander's statement regarding the grades of milk sold in the U.S.A. is also incorrect. The "Grade A certified" milk towhich he refers is a special grade of milk produced on selected farms under the direct control of the American Association of Medical Milk Commissions and enjoys only a very limited sale. Grade A milk is the standard first grade milk and has a similar standard to that required by the Auckland Milk Council for milk produced for sale in Auckland, excepting that it is subjected to a modified tuberculin test. It is sold both raw and pasteurised. Grade B milk is milk that does not satisfy the bacteriological requirements of Grade A milk or is not tuberculin tested. The minimum bacteriological standard is somewhat lower than that specified in the regulations under the N.Z. Sale of Poods and Drugs Act. It is sold either raw or pasteurised. Grade C milk is milk of a lower standard than grade B milk and it is also sold either raw or pasteurised. It is, of course, well known that pasteurisation is practiced very widely in the United States of America. L. S. SPACKMAN. Analyst and Consultant to the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council.