THE MILK SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 138, 13 June 1931, Page 14

THE MILK SUPPLY

PASTEURISED OR RAW?

POINTS FOR AND AGAINST

EEPOET TO COMMITTEE

Many times the question of pasteurised versus raw milk as a safe supply to cities has been raised, and recently tho question has been raised in another form, by suggestions that the council should supply specially graded raw milk as well as pasteurised milk to moot special demands for that service. A report niade by tho general managor of tho Municipal Milk Department, Mr. B. E. Herron, retraces tho many arguments, and, in summing up, upholds the policy adopted by the City Council of supplying high grade milk pasteurised and bottled under the most hygienic conditions. It is many years since milk was first pasteurised or sterilised for consumption in the larger cities of the older countries of the world, states the report, and the practice of heating milk prior to sale has now become almost universal for city trade in all enlightened milk consuming countries.. The practice of sterilising milk has been entirely discarded in the United States and Canada in favour of pasteurisation, and very little milk is now sterilised in Great Britain, where a few years ago a largo proportion of the heated milk supply was so treated. VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE. In those countries for city trade only a very small proportion of raw or untreated milk is sold, and this milk is mostly confined to (a) "certified" and (b) "grade 'A' raw" (tuberculintested), anil in each case the milk is produced from cows belonging to herds which are periodically subjected to the "tuberculin test." A statement, was recently made in tho House of Commons by tho Minister of Agriculture that the proportion of graded raw milk sold in Great Britain was loss than two per cent, of the whole milk supply, aiid, Mr. Herron added, ho found tho position in the United .States three years ago to be about the same or the proportion slightly less. ' The sale of ungraded. raw milk is therefore largely confined to tho smaller towns of those countries, where the distance between the sources of production and the places of consumption is small, and where, in many cases, two deliveries are made daily to assist in keeping the milk fresh. In many cities of the United States,the sale of ra.w milk' is' absolutely prohibited, but in others if is' allowed, but only of milk produced under the control of a Medical Milk Commission. MEDICAL OPINIONS. Whilo many doctors and dietitians, still oppose the heating of market milk, continues the report, such opposition is considered to bo largely due to the systems in use where milk is heated to high temperatures when sterilised or "flash pastourised." However, Government health' authorities ifl. leading countries, including our own Health Department, almost without exception, favour low temperature pasteurisation for city milk supplies, and the system of pasteurising milk as practised in our dairy conforms to the regulations now in force in the United States and Great Britain, which are looked upon as being up to tho highest possible standards. After considering the matter from its general standpoint and taking into- account the specially difficult conditions pertaining to the milk supply- of Wellington, there can be no ■ question that the council did the right- thing in adopting the pasteurisation of its milk supply. COST OF "CERTIFIED" SUPPLY.

Turning to the question of whether the department; should extend its supply of raw milk (part of tho supplies to •the Public and Karitane Hospitals are of raw milk), Mr. Herron's report continues: In the U.S.A., cities where milk prices were recently,, recorded the relative qualities and'spriccs per quart of milk were as follows: Pasteurised/(A grade) averaged 15 cents (7.sd); special (not certified), 21 cents (10id); vti' fled, 31 cents (Is 3-Jd). "Special milk (not certified) is therefore on the average 40 per cent, dearer than pasteurised milk, whilst "certified" is more than 100 per cent, dearer. ' It therefore seems likely that "A" grade raw (tuberculin-tested) milk would require to be sold at threepence (3d) per quart, or thereabouts, in excess of the current'price for pasteurised milk, as a special delivery of this milk would probably have to be made to .maintain its freshness. PASTEURISED MILK ONLY. After discussing the disabilities which would follow were a double system' of supply embarked upon, Mr. Herron's report concludes: — "The council should, in my view, seriously consider that they have a responsibility in doing all they can to prevent any 'outbreak of a milk-borne disease such as has been known to have been' transmitted to human beings by contaminated raw milk "supplies in many different towns (including some in New Zealand) in the past. "Finally, having considered the matter from all its aspects, I have arrived at the conclusion that to enter into the sale of raw milk would not be warranted and that the health interests of tho consumers will be best conserved by the council continuing the supply and' distribution only of pasteurised milk."