PROBLEM OF MILK

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 133, 2 December 1922, Page 13

PROBLEM OF MILK

PRACTICABLE PURITYi OF SUPPLY

WELLINGTON'S ACHIEVEMENTS

WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE.

The importance of a pure milk" supply for the people has long been realised in Wellington, and the substantial progress achieved by the municipal system has been -recognised not only by citizens but by experts. What is not so generally realised is the Supreme difficulty of handling the problem of milk supgly on a large scale. This was made clear in an interesting address delivered during Health Week, but not reported at any length at the time owing to considerations o£ space. What follows embodies some of the more vital points necessary to an adequate* understanding of the principles of milk'supply..

Milk, in one form or another, Has always been a staple article of diet from the earliest days of history. It has been from time immemorial, in various guise:* included in the diet of many Eastern peoples, in Persia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and among the desert tribes who have their habitat in the wide tracts of Northern Africa and Central and Western Asia. Almost every domestic animal has been, drawn, on for the supply. The Serb and the Bulgar extract it frorf their flocks, of sheep j the Tartars and other inhabitants of the vast steppes of European Russia and Central Asia use the mare, and the Laplander finds in. reindeer's milk, with its high content of fat, a product pre-eminently suitable to his requirements. The buffalo, the camel, and the goat are all called mo requisition, while the humble donkey, whose milk most nearly resembles the human article, has gained a high, reputation in some quarters as a source for infant feeding. ■

True it is that some of the great races •of .the Far East, notably China and Japan, together with some isolated Polynesian peoples, seem to flourish without its aid, but the tendency among the more civilised nations is to call it into use more and moro as an ideal food for young children, and, in the form of butter and cheese, as an essential food for adults also. The milk of one species of animal can never give to the young of another the full benefits of- that of its own kind. The artificially-fed baby •is handicapped from the very beginning of its life. THE ECONOMIC ASPECT. Milk itself is a substance of extraordinary complexity, a complexity only equalled, if not surpassed, by the difficulty of supplying it in pure form to the consumer./ Many of the aspects of the problem present such difficulties as to appear to be almost insoluble, but, if we have not reached finality, at any rate we have now sufficient data to enable us to lay down rules for a safe and nutritious supply. The economic aspect must be in the long run the governing factor. It is futile to try to class oil milk as pure or impure. It is as impossible to provide pure milk in the strictest 'sense as it is criminal to supply impure. It is all a question of definition and degree. To meet the real wants of the community grading is essential. The higher the standard, the less can be produced. The highest standards should be reserved for those who need it mostinfants and invalids. It is, however, quite, possible to provide for every man, woman, and child a milk that is satisfactory for its purpose, of full nutritive value and free from the danger of conveying disease. Much has already been done in this respect in Wellington, but more remains to be done before we reach the goal—a nutritive safe milk for the general public and a special high-grade fresh supply for infant feeding. The former is already available; the latter ' still remains to be achieved.

For milk to be a good and-feafe article of food it must fulfil the following conditions :—

1. It must have the proper quantities of fat, carbo-hydrates, and proteins in a digestible form.

2. It must have sufficient calcium and phosphorus in solution to prevent the onset of the diseases of nutrition.

' 3. It must have, unimpaired, the three great groups of vitamines or growthsubstances, for the same reason.

4. It must be free from dangerous numbers of any form of bacteria, and especially from the germs of disease and their toxins.

A milk supply fulfilling all these requirements is a practicable impossibility in a city supply. Even under the most elaborate and normally impracticable precautions it is impossible' altogether to get rid of the microbes in milk. These are of three classes or groups: (1) Those that cause fermentation' in the lactose or ■milk-sugar; (2) those that purify the protein; (3) and those that actually convey and cause definite and specific diseases. MILLIONS OF GEBMS. Much milk lias been drunk in the past in Wellington that contained as much as 300 million germs to the cubic centimetre or 1200 millions to the teaspoonfulj a great deal is being still drunk that contains 200,000 or more. The consumer has no means of protecting himself against impure milk, no test by which he can try, it. In this matter we are entirely in the hands of the farmer and the health authorities, the City Corporation and its Milk Committee. In the third group of bacteria—those that actually, cause disease—is the very heart of the milk question. The danger from them is not academic; it is real and tragic. If we could eliminate the dis-ease-producing germs, the problem of milk as an adult food would almost cease to exist. ' It is commonly suggested that good fresh milk is the best. The difference between ordinary farm milk between the time it is fresh and the time it is old is entirely .due to decomposition changes. These on a proper system can be eliminated, so that there is absolutely nothing to be gained either in taste or in quality by the delivery of milk shortly after it has come from the cow. It is necessary to emphasise this as tba regular delivery of fresh milk and at the same time safe milir on a large scale is not a, practicable proposition. A milk to be safe must hay« as few bacteria of any kind in it as is practicable, and must be absolutely free from disease-producing bacteria. The first of these desiderata can be obtained only by hygienic methods on the farm and proper conditions of storage up to the tune. of delivery. This, can only be achieved by a strict system, on the farm to reduce the number of germs gaining access to the milk and a. consistent testing of samples of the finished pTodu-at as it is delivered.

Experts must be at hand to see that ■elementary rules of dairy cleanliness are carried out. They must be not only inspectors, but instructors, and should work in close and harmonious 00-opera-tion with the farmer for thus purpose. The production of the veiy highest quality of milk would involve an outlay that the price obtainable does not justify. But a perfectly good quality can be supplied with hardly an}' extra outlay. For instance, merely grooming

the cows, damping the milker's hands in clean water and soap between the milkings of each cow will lower the number of perms >>■<- 75 per cent. The milk must be cooled to 40 degrees Fahrenheit at once u.ud delivered to the factory or depot within six hours. In that time milk will not undergo any appreciable increase in its germ content. COMBATING DISEASE. As, however, mere' inspection and instruction cannot ensure that the requisite conditions will be fulfilled, it is necessary that the finished product should be tested when it reaches the depot or the house of the- consumer. The total number of bacteria then present gives an infallible index as to the sanitary conditions under which the milk is produced. The Milk Committee has a strict test and it can be taken as a fact that only very good quality milk ia accepted as being fit to be pasteurised in the city supply. _ Tiros, testing of the ■, sanitary production and the amount of contamination in milk is comparatively I easy. It is far otherwise when we come to consider the disease-producing group.; Something can be done by regular in.spection of the herd and by medical inspection of the personnel engaged in the industry, to eliminate animals suffering from diseased udders, tuberculosis, and other ailments.

One of the most urgent reforms necessary, therefore, is that no milk should Be allowed to be delivered in a Taw state unless the herd from yhich it comes is regularly subjected to the tuberculin test for tuberculosis. If the fanner finds he has tuberculous cows, he must either get rid of them or sell his milk ■where it will -be pasteurised before delivery. In regard to the specially high. qnality of milk desirable for the use of infants and invalids, it would not be fair to ask any man to make the necessary installation, unless he could be guaranteed the enhanced price neceasary to recompense him for his trouble and outlay. Until the general public is sufficiently educated to the advantage and necessity of such milk for infant feeding, the milk depot would have- to guarantee the proper price and, if necessary, distribute it over the general price. Such a milk is known as certified grade A in America. It would be easily possible to find farmers who would devote themselves to the supply of such a milk, provided that a good market for it were obtainable. " EARLIER PREJUDICES. It is most unfortunate that the efforts of the municipality to provide a_ better anid more consistent supply of milk met with such difficulties at its inception. The committee was apparently not in a, position to control the supply at its source, so that much of dts milk was highly contaminated. To obviate this high temperatures were used for pasteurisation, which not only prevented the cream from rising, but killed all the lactic bacilli. After the pasteurisation process the milk had to pass into vendors' hands for delivery. The consequence was seen in the apparently creamless, thin milk, and old milk with a cooked taste that the public received. The absence of the lactic bacilli gave free rise to the putrefactive germs, so that the milk was rotten before it was oour. This most unfortunate state of affairs has created a prejudice against the council's milk. And as it is easier to create a prejudice than to dispel it, many, people still look askance at the municipal • supply. This is a thousand pities, as in it w-e have a hygienic supply far above that of any other city in. New Zealand. !

Wellington's municipal milk supply is drawn from a large area. From the summer district the milk is brought to the depot, twice daily. In winter the overnight milk is cooled ■ and kept at the dairy an^d sent in with the morning's milk. All milk must be at the' depot at 10 o'clock. It i? brought in cans in motor lorries, which are about to be fitted with covers-,to protect them from the sun. The roaid journey takes only an hour and a half. The milk is therefore perfectly fresh and good when it arrives at the depot. The farms are inspected by the Stock Department, and 1 the expert of the Milk Committee is available for advice. The price is controlled by the current rates for butter-fat. This is estimated and an extra amount corresponding to 6d a pound butter-fat is given as an inducement to sell the milk .for drinking purposes. • KEEPING UP TO THE MARK. Every consignment of milk received furnishes a sample, which is tested in. the laboratory. It is noteworthy that, while a local farmer can sell milk that gives only 180 in roductase value, no milk that has a less value than 300 is considered worthy of passing into the, ioilk supply from tile [depot. When any farmer's milk begins to show signs of careless production by getting down to the 300 level, he is warned, and his milk is separated and tested daily till it improves. At 300 it is separated and the cream sent to make butter."' At 250 it becomes second grade,, and the farmer losbb his inducement value. At 60 it is totally condemned, and he is not paid for it- at all. At the same time, every assistance is given by'the Milk Committee to enable the farmer to finjd out wiiere the fault lies and to rectify it.' The work in the depot has already been described, and it will be apparent that there is no chance of contamination there. The milk i 3 24 hours old when it comes to the breakfast table, and is delivered sufficiently early to ensure that none of the previous day's milk can be earned over. The fact that the milk sour? shows that the lactic bacilli predominate even after pasteurisation,' and thfts the pitfrefactives are held well in cheek. As a matter of fact, the milk will not sour, if kept under proper conditions. If it is left in the morning sun from the time of delivery until taken up, of course, the germs begin to multiply apace. The Ideal way would be if the milk were delivered into a cool chamber on the shady side of the house by the deliverer. It is imperative that it should be kept cool by immersion in cold water or by covering it up to the neck wifchi damp muslin, and leaving it in a draught in a shady place until required for use. By these means the germ content would never increase to the point of souring the milk. We can rest assured that tha municipal i milk is of good quality and | safe.

A good milk supply demands the cooperation of the Stock Department, the Health Department, the farmer, the mididleman—in our case the City Corporation —and, above all, the consumer. There has been far too much criticism and far too little understanding between these in the past. The consumer blames the supplier for milk that has gone bad through, his own carelessness in keeping. He makes an outcry wheD the price of milk goes up, oblivious to the' fact that even at the highest price, it is still the best value in food. Moreover, as tie price of milk is controlled by the price of butter-fat, high-priced milk n«usally means that the country is enjoying; the prosperity that comes from good prices for one of its chief primary products, li cannot be denied that there is much waete in the industry. More knowledge in the breeding and acquiring of the best jnilk-pro'ducing cows, elimination of the wasters of the herd by the fanner keeping a chart of individual production, the right kind of pasturage and winter feed will cheapen the cost of production.

A more intelligent use of the by-pro-ducts of dairying is needed, and by attention to these and similar economics the profit to the producer could be en-hanced-and a better class of milk conld bn produced at ;i lower price. To attain the fullest benefits, a high ideal

should be set from the medical and health point of view, combined with a sympathetic attitude to the public departments and the high-spirited public men who have taken the reforms in hand, a stern discountenancing of any political jobbery where the very life of the people is concerned, and, above all, strict justice to those hard-working men, the primary producers, in whose hands the wiole matter must ultimately rest.