MILK BAR TRADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 13

MILK BAR TRADE

RESTRICTED CONTROL RECENT COURT RULING POSITION OF THE COUNCIL Owing'to a decision of the Chief Justice that a milk-shake was not milk, the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council had no control over the milk-bar trade, and the position was still unsatisfactory. stated Mr. W. C. Neil, technical adviser to the council, in a report to the council yesterday. Licences were necessary, however, when raw milk was also sold, and at present there were 90 milk-bar licences. A complaint had been received during the 'month concerning the watery nature of milk-shakes from a milk-bar, Mr. Neil said. The Department of Health was' notified, but no action had been taken for some time. Three samples were taken by the council's testing oHicer, and in two cases the added water was 20 per cent and 313 per cent. The tested samples ranged from slightly dirty to very dirty, and one stood up to the reductase test for only seven minutes, compared with the three hours specified by Health Department regulations. "Unfortunately, owing to the legal position," Mr. Neil said, "the council can take no action even in this case." There was at present no standard for milk-shakes, he continued, and it was possible to claim that the addition of water and any other substance was part of the preparation of a milk-shake. The position was unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of the public as well as of the council. On occasions the council's testing officers had been refused samples by milk-bar proprietors, and were then powerless to take any action. "The report is an illuminating one," said Mr. H. P. Burton, It was decided to send the relative portion of the report to the Minister and the Department of Health.