CONTAMINATED MILK

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24243, 8 April 1942, Page 4

CONTAMINATED MILK

A short dry spell caused the city to draw on emergency sources of milk supply and some of these have proved not merely unsatisfactory, but positively The sober account given this morning by the medical officer of health, Dr. Hughes, gives rise to disturbing reflections. Contaminated milk has definitely caused 2-1 cases of typhoid, five fresh cases having occurred during last, week-end. Clearly sufficient care was not taken by the Milk Council when the dry spell caused it to draw supplies from outside the normal and permanently licensed channels. Otherwise Dr. Hughes could not state that "a great deal" of this introduced milk "proved on examination to be quite unsatisfactory for use for a city supply." The council's inspection system does not seem to have passed this emergency test. Yet the council has , a special and grave responsibility to ensure the delivery of pure milk since it deprived consumers of the right to choose their vendor. Milk is the perfect food, not only for human beings, but also for bacteria. Rather than chance its vices for the sake of its virtues, the community I were better left short of milk for a time. The alternative is to be prepared against the emergency of a dry spell and surely, at the centre of a great dairying province, such preparation is the proper business of the council. It has acted as if universal pasteurisation were regarded as a sufficient safeguard, and other authorities have put marked emphasis on the desirability of this process, but it is only one stage in the delivery of pure milk. Dr. Hughes has detailed others at least as important, while noting the limits applying to pasteurisation.