MILK CONDEMNED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 28 March 1938, Page 9

MILK CONDEMNED

MELBOURNE’S SUPPLY

| HEALTH OFFICER'S REPORT j CONSUMERS ALARMED The City Health Officer, Dr. John Dale.' has thrown a bombshell among Melbourne I milk consumers by saying that only a j \ei.y small peicentage ut the city's milk! supply is either good or safe. I lie publi- | cation of Dr. Dales report is claimed to luixe led to an immediate decease ini consumption. This is m face of all the "drink more' milk” propaganda of the .Metropolitan j •Milk Producers’ Association, and that of j tlie Stale Milk Board. which recently caused an upset of its own by mtrodue- j ! ing a compreheiNive milk zoning plan to j the metropolitan area. : At a meeting with milk producers this; j week, Dr. Dale reiterated his statement i that Melbourne’s milk was not wholly' | sale. He told them the ycould never be i : sure of a rich, clean, and safe supply ! ! until all milk was pasteurised Ntevertlie- j | less, he. declared, it was safer to drink ] | t-lie present supply than to go with- j ! out it. ! . I SUPPLY MUST BE MADE SAFER, j ; The president of the producers’ as- j j sociatiou, Mr YV. C. Cayley, strongly! criticised Dr. Dale's remarks. He said ! that the association’s tesls proved that Melbourne was getting a milk supply superior to that of any city in the worldeven better than the "much advertised" Wellington, New Zealand, supply. The contract system was now working well. Dr. Dale said he regretted that the publicity given to his report should have led to a decrease in consumption. More milk had to be consumed ; every child should have at least a pint a clay, and every adult at least half a pint . The city supply, however, would have *■« be made safer. At present it was not safe. No milk could be considered safe until it had been boiled before drinking or pasteurised. By that he did not mean merely put through a pasteurising plant, but properly treated, bottled and sealed with proper equipment and without human contact. GERMS THRIVE AND MULTIPLY The tendency to concentrate on bulk milk supplies greatly increased the likelihood of contamination and epidemics. All germs, except those perhaps of tuberculosis, multiplied and thrived on milk. "I take samples regularly from dairies and carts," Dr. Dale said. "Only a proportion of them comes up to a reasonable standard. Instead of getting better, standards have been getting rather worse. "You can find contagious abortion germs in about 20 per cent, of the samples taken in the city. You can never be sure that you do not get human disease germs in milk. That is why 1 want pasteurisation. . . You cannot pasteurise milk in the country ; it has to be done in the city—and the sooner it is done the better."