FOOD VALUE OF MILK.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17612, 15 November 1922, Page 13

FOOD VALUE OF MILK.

At a meeting at Sydney recently. Miss Lorna Byrne, B.Sc. Agf., of the Department of Education} gave a lecture on "Milk as a Factor in Health and Disease."

After dealing with the composition of milk, Miss Byrne stated.that, in addition to water, protein, fat, sugar, and mineral matter, there entered into the composition of milk certain substances known as vitamines. Comparatively little was known of the real nature of these, except that, they were absolutely essential for normal health and growth. So far three types' had been recognised,- and a-person -living for any_ length of time on a diet de flcient in any one of vitamines was subject to certain so-called deficiency diseases,"" e.g., rickets (in children), scurvy, beri-beri. - 'Unfortunately, vitamines were destroyed by boiling, so that children, fed upon boiled milk sometimes showed symptoms of rickets or scurvy. The vitamines of milk might,, however, be replaced by those of fruit juice, yolk of egg, and green vegetables. If the public, Miss Byrne continued, were to realise the enormous value of milk as a food, undoubtedly there would be a much greater demand than at present. In America the advice given to the housewife was, "Don't buy a pound of meat till you have bought three quarts of milk. Spend as much on milk as you do on meat, fish, and eggs put together." One quart of milk had been found to produce as much energy as lloz of steak, nine eggs, or 14oz of fowl. A growing child should drink a quart of milk per, day in order to keep up normal fleßh and bone Production.

''l wonder how many children in the' city drink half or even a quarter of that amount, The average child attending school brings with him a. sandwich lunch-—the beverage consist ing generally of water. ' More often still the child brings 3d or 6d with which to buy the midday meal, and what is the resultt' Sweets—indiges tible looking tarts and cakes—and often for a drink lemonade or ginger beer—mostly compounded of chemicals and gas. No wonder doctors and dentists flourish. . What a national service milk vendors would render to the community if .they would set up depots within easy reach of the schools, where clean milk could be served to the children either in its ordinary form, or made up as some special milk drink. This would help tojsolve the problem of the all-too-frequent block days.'' Milk, when freshly drawn from a normally healthy cow, had few, if any, harmful bacteria. It was the -careless handling of the product afjer milking which brought about infection by and multiplication of germs, which played.such an enormous part in the health of the community. Pasteurising was a method almost universally employed to-day, by means of which a very large number of bacteria were killed off, without producing undesirable changes in the milk. Before pasteurising, as many as 9,000,000 bacteria had been found in 1 c.c. (about an ordinary saJtspoonful) of milk. In the same sample, after pasteurising, the number had been reduced to 800, or evon fewer, in the. same quantity of milk. "If the milk is quite fresh when received," Miss Byrne added, "which should be the first aim of the distributor, home pasteurisation may be practised. This is a simple matter: a fairly deep vessel, with a perforated false bottom is needed. The milk should be placed in a covered vessel, and stood on the false bottom of the vessel provided, which should be filled with cold water to about the level of the milk in the containing jar or jug. If a thermometer is available, this should be used to test the heat of the milk, which should not rise above 160 deg. Fah. Without a thermometer, as soon as the film appears on the surface of the milk, the vessel should be removed from the Are, and the temperature should be kept at this height for about thirty minutes. The milk should then be cooled to as low a temperature as possible, and, when cool, if an ice chest is available, should be stored there till needed for use."