Dangers in Milk Supply

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6625, 11 August 1931, Page 3

Dangers in Milk Supply

WAR, AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS

A memorandum on “Bovine Tuberculosis in Man,” issued by the British Ministry of Health, states that probably 1000 children under the ago of 15 die annually in England and Wales from non-pulmonary tuberculosis of bovine origin. In 1920 the human death rate for all forms of tuberculosis was 959 per 1,000,000, the rate of pulmonary disease (consumption) being 793, and of all other forms (bones, glands, etc.), 366. In these other forms the most common infecting agency was milk. The death rate for the year was slightly higher than that for 1928, but there has been a steady fall in the rate during the last 20 years. The success which has attended efforts to combat tuberculosis of all types is proved by the fact that in 1913 no fewer than 117,139 new cases were reported, and in 1929 the number had fallen to 76,856.

“It is practically certain,” states the report,, “that the great majority of human infections with the bovine tubercle bacillus are conveyed by means of cows’ milk, and that infection usually occurs duriug tho early years of life. “The proportion of milch cows in this country infected with tuberculasis is believed to be not less than. 40 per cent. The proportion actually yielding tuberculous milk, however, is probably between 1 and 2 per cent.” On tho question of tho treatment of milk, tho report states that, subject to careful operation and scientific control, pasteurisation ensures a milk which not only is safe for consumption but also retains its food value practically unimpaired by the heat to which it is subjected. Londoners are assured that “it is probable that most of the milk now sold in London has been subjected to effective pasteurisation.” The need is expressed for improved methods of cow-keeping and the education of cow-keepers. “Old and grossly insanitary cowsheds are still common,” it is stated, “and new sheds are often constructed or old ones adapted in a manner displaying ignorance of the principles governing the spread of infection.”