THE DAIRY REGULATIONS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 52

THE DAIRY REGULATIONS

OAKES OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH

(Written for the ,f New Zealand - Mail” by Jj.‘ iS. Braoher, Associate of the Sanitary Institute, London.)

Id issuing tne new - dairy regulations, the Government is-to be congratulated : on the further carrying out of one of tlxa most important functions of any Government the care of the Public .. health. „ . The ! new regulations are modelled after the- English Imoal Government-Board Order for Dairies, r Cowsheds and Milk '■ Shops, and contain, in addition, more Eainutb directions -as to> certain-details, fta New Zealand, the central Government eahi .itself iinderfake the supervision of dairies; in England, the powers of the Local Government Board are deItegatetT to the ‘‘local -authorities”; —the f Urban, -and county councils, who may themselves add Regulations as to details, „■ subject to the approval of the Local irGovernment 'Board. Model regulations . for this purpose are issued by a London firm. ..

<■ All hygienists wilt welcome the new 0 regulations, but-it is possible that the 1; uninitiated may regard them as grand■*U asuotfcerly legislation. Farmers, dairy :“ «Qen and milk-sellers, to whom bacJ teriology is as yet a wild speculation of i- era zy scientists, and all who are still ignorant of the silent but. fatal ways of •th© invisible microbe will 1 denounce the 7- regulations as absurd *»nd - unnecessary. 1 Yet not only is the purity of the milk saapply a. matter gravely affecting the - fepipltb of the inhabitants of these islands, but also a matter that concerns ■ all over-sea consumers of the dairy pro-

duce exported from this country, and it is regrettable that the new regulations do not include all in New Zealand. In EiTgiand, the people are year fey year being educated in the principles of Hygiene: thousands of lectures on the subject, attended annually by many thousands of all classes of the population. Sanitary and medical congresses, and the careful attention universally devoted by. the English press to this topic, all contribute to the formation of an educated public opinion on hygiene and sanitation. Therefore, it would be a bad thing for the dairy export trade of-New Zealand were it to be reported 1 that New Zealand! dairies are in an unsanitary condition.

London, notwithstancung its immense and over-crowded population, and its vitiated and germ-laden atmosphere, is yet, owing to careful sanitary precautions, one of the healthiest of large cities, If so. much can be accomplished iu London, what magnificent results may be achieved by the Government of New Zoalaiid, given, the necessary factors — an educated public opinion in regard to health matters, and educated and competes; law-makers and officials, the former to devise, the latter to supervise, the carrying out of public health legislation !

The new dairy regulations are very good, and will, when perfectly carried out undoubtedly improve the general health of the community. A captious critic might suggest: —(a) That the airspace available for eaeff cow —600 cubic feet, is by no means unnecessarily large. Seeing that the space allowed per head tor human beings ought to be 1000 cubic feet, and that animals consume far more oxygen., and exhale a greater quantity o-f carbon dioxide than human being?,, the air-space .allowed for animals should be correspondingly increased. But in. New Zealand, where cattle are not stalled during the whole of the winter (ns they have to be in older. countries) and have the advantage of being out in the fresh air, probably 600 cubic feet will suffice. As the population and dairy trade, increase, it is probable that ad- '. vantage will be taken of the fact that cows properly housed produce a greater quantity of milk during the cold weatherV this provision, therefore, provides against present and future over-crowding of animals, (b) . It would be better to swoop add clean the milk shed some time before, and not' “immediately before milking.” Everyone knows that in sweeping a dusty room,' myriads of particles of dust arise in the, air, and afterwards,. when the commotion caused by sweeping lias ceased, settle on the furoi- ‘ Hirb»'twxjks, ; eto; f’Th©csaine:effoct w ould after sloping a cowshed with a feirif dry floor, , paart : idulhriy ofo a windy dayt. .Rart ‘df the duel; would simply be ' dkiven into the'ah', and if rt-hb sweeping is; done “immediately y beforA milking, fisc'rhe of the -dustr woidd fad, into the milk pails. No 1 particle M dffst, is ever '■ so driy that;the bacteria in it are labed, therefore dust,in the>air.vis perhaps more dangerous than dust .on the floor, I oi these reasons, it would be advisable to sweep oowpliedshalf an hour before beginning to milkri (c> In .the clause referrLag to Washing the hands, and keep - ing them thoroughly cleansed during mdking, there might have been inserted a reference fca the very common, but movst insanitai-y . of wetting nhe bauds with milk while making. Also, after some sorts of farm work, such es cleaning pig-styes, removing manure, killing and cutting up pigs and other am-. mails or birds, it is not sufficient to merely rinse the hands with cold water and soap before milking ; hot water and the addition of a disinfectant, (Condy’s fluid or Izal) to the water are strongly to be Paoommeaded. All persons suffering

.from Lnffamed cuts or wounds on the hands, which are not yet classed as ‘‘infectious diseases,” should never be permitted to milk cows. One can hardly hope to see such sanitary precautions universally adopted any more than one cam, at present, desire the butcher not to use the same knife for cutting up diseased and healthy meat, without sterilising it after cutting tuberculous meat nevertheless the ideal in these matters should be put before all who milk cows, (d) ' A soda solution is an excellent tiling for cleansing, milk cans and vessels, as the soda effectually removes any particles of butter-fat that may adhere to the inside of the cans. Steam is however the best thing possible for such cleansing, as steam is a powerful germicide, (e) How many newly-appointed inspectors know what a “properly trapped” drain, or sewer is? Or have they even - elementary -knowledge regarding drainage? Until there is a staff of welltrained and certificated sanitary inspectors, neither sub-clause (f) nor the important provisions dr the Tublic Heailtn Act regarding drainage, will; be perfectly carried out. (f) In the-Local Go-, vemment Board Order it is provided with respect to the milk of diseased, cows that if at any time disease exists among the cattle in a daily, or cowshed, etc., the milk of a diseased 1 cow: therein (a) shall not be mixed with other milk, and (b) shall not be sold or used for-human food, and (c) shall not be sold or used for food of swine or* other animals unless and until it has been boiled. A great danger lies in the feeding of animais with milk from-tuberculous cows. An eminent Danish bacteriologist believes that tubercle bacilli may pass through into the milk, even when the udder is . apparently quite healthy. Experiments carried out by him on a herd of .208 cattle, 80 per cent, of which had reacted to tuberculin (and therefore were tuber- . culous) proved that it- was possible. 1 o bring up a healthy herd directly by the side of an unhealthy one, provided the two were separated from one another by a partition, and this, too, when the healthy herd was chiefly recruited from calves born of tuberculous cows. He considers, however, that it is necessary to withdraw their calves, isolate them, and feed them on boiled inus. In Denmark, the law on the contagious diseases of animals prohibits the sale of milk of cattle affected with tubercle of th'e udder, also pronibits the use of it for the food of man, or manufacture of butter or cheese, its rise only being per- ' mitted when boiled for feeding animals. These precautions, no doubt, tend largely to the success of Danish butter in the English market. In England one hears the remark, “I prefer the Danish butter. One knows they manage the dairies so well there.” It its certainly necessary for the new regulations to provide that dairymen shall not use the milk of unhealthy cows, but one may pertinentiy ask—how, if unassisted by the advice . of veterinary surgeons, who are also bacteriological expertsJ is the dairyman always to know when a cow is unhealthy? Every medical practitioner is aware that it is very difficult to diagnose correctly the early stages of tubercle, and only the discovery of the presence of the tubercle bacillus can confirm the diagnosis. It is now generally believed that the milk of tuberculous cows, when unboiled, causes tuberculosis in human ieings. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine bow infants and young children fed on such diseased cow’s milk can escape the deadly infection, when one realises that day after day they are receiving into their systems strong doses of a fluid containing the mic-robe of consumption—that fatal enemy of the Anglo-Saxon race. Every reader of this article should clearly understand that disease germs* can live and flourish in milk and water. Moreover, the danger of drinking the milk of tuberculous, cows is increased by the fact that bovine tubercular matter is more difficult to disinfect and dest/oy, and is of a higher degree of virulence! than human tubercular matter. Also the tubercle bacillus produces spores (seeds) which are of a stronger vitality, and therefore more difficult to kill by disnnectkm trail the nnerobo itself. Numerous -experiments nave absolutely proyed that calves may be infected when fed on tuberculous milk, aiid the large number of cases of tabes, mesemterica in children is very significant; One of . the experts appointed by the Royal Commission bn tuberculosis (England) succeeded in producing tuberculosis • in all of fifteen animald fed on the milk of three cows with tuberculous ‘ udders, and he writes that the virulence -v? such milk can only ho described as extraordinary. Paragraph 63 of this report is as follows:—“The. .withdrawal from dairies of every cow that liad any disease whatever of her uduer would form some approach to security against the serious danger incurred by man from *he use of tuberculous milk, but it would uot be an adequate security. The presence in a dairy of a. tubercuh us cow is a de- . cided source of danger to the public.” One is therefore justified in saying that the milk from cows with tubercle of the udder is positively dangerous, and the supply of such milk should 1 be regarded as little short c-f criminal, This condition of udder is not very commonly met with, as it only appears late in the disease. •.

A Wellington medical man. well, versed in all the latest details of hygiene and sanitation, told the writer he had seen a cow in the last stages of tuberculosis being driven into a yard, milked daily, and the milk sold in Wellington for ha-

man food. It would be interesting to know for how many cases of consumption in infants, children, or invalids, in Wellington that one cow —or, rather, the owner of the cow —is responsible! Professor Wynter iflyth, Medical Officer of Health for Marylebone (London) says that 20 per cent, of animals killed Jor pneumonia are tuberculous, and 30 per cent, of animals killed for the London market are tuberculous. For tuberculosis in cattle inoculation with tuberculin is the most accurate test that has yet been discovered.

The first systematic attempt ia combat tuberculosis amongst cattle by the use of tuberculin ha-s been made in Denmark. By a law passed in April, 1893, the Danish Government placed nearly £3OOO a .year for five years at the disposal of the Minister of the Interior, to assist the owners of cattle who might bo desirous of making use of. tuberculin, or of other scientific means of diagnosis, in the detection and prevention of tubercle. The grant of money was to be utilised by the farmer in inoculating young animals with tuberculin, and it was only to be given to such owners as promisrd to keep the healthy animals isolated from these that wore tuberculous. In addition to furnishing the tuberculin gratuitously, the Government also gives die farmer the services of a veterinary urgecn to perform the operation. - A,, the result of a year’s work, 8401 cows were examined, and out of this number, 3362 were proved to be tuberculous. If the people of New Zealand <*xq to be adequately guarded against the consumption of tuberculous milk the Government of this country should follow the example of the Danish Government, and assist the farmers to detect tuberculosis. Until this is done, the regulation against using the milk of unhealthy cows cannot be thoroughry carried out.

It is ivell known that the death-rate from tuberculosis in New Zealand is increasing, therefore all preventive measures should receive the attention, support and co-operation of tno people. It lias been proved' that not only tuberculosis, but many other diseases, can be transmitted through the milk supply. Mr Ernest Hatt, in 1881, collected and tabulated 50 epidemics of enteric fever, 15 of scarlet fever, and seven of diphtheria, which were tracer to milk poisoning; (See Transactions of Intercolonial Medical Congress, Voi. IX.). Surgeon A. M. Davis also tabulated 19 epidemics of enteric fever, 18 of scarlet fever, and seven of diphtheria, ail of which were due to. the same caime. Instances of some of these epidemics may serve to convince the unbelieving reader. In 1884, at Dover, there suddenly broke out an epidemic of sore throat, with eruption of the throat, or lips. etc. The symptoms resembled foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. There were 205 cases in one week, all supplied with milk from one dairy. Foot and mouth disease existed at one of the farms from which this dairy derived its milk. There was an outbreak of cholera on board a ship lying off Calcutta, resulting in nine cases and four deaths, in which the poison seemed undoubtedly to have been conveyed through milk. The milkman was traced, and found to live near a tank into which dejecta from a cholera patient found access, and the milkman confessed to habitually diluting the miia with one quarter water from this tank. A typhoid epidemic was caused by the dairyman using w r ater from a well to wash his cans; int-o this well a drain was leaking, the drain contained excreta from a typhoid patient in the farmhouse. So the typhoid germs gained access to the water in the well, then to the milk cans, and from the milk cans were carried into the houses and bodies of the sufferer® from enteric.

lt was proved that the milk of certain cows at a Hendon farm had caused scarlet fever in the North of Lcndou. These cows were affected with an er up-, tive disease on the teats and uddoi-s. "When in any locality a. number of ca&eo of scarlet fever occur sim ul tan Cou sly and in different and distant households, the first means of spread of contagion thought of is milk or cream, and in fail such epidemics, on further inquiry, it is found! that milk or cream is the vehicle of contagion. .... In anther epidemic of scarlet Teve;' in England, there was a dairy closely adjoining a house where scarlet foyer had. existed for weeks. The cows were milked every night and morning into open tin cans, which were carried: across an open yard past the affected house. Subsequently, on a particular day. a general epidemic of scarlet fever broke ( at in the town, in 30 or 46 families. All those suffering from the disease received their milk from this particular dairy. A lodger bad the milk raw for supper, and was attacked. His landlady boiled the milk for her supper the same night, and she escaped the- disease. Scarlet fever can thus be caused either by cbe cow/, being diseased, or by infection from a hu man case of scarlet fever gaining .access to the milk.

In certain epidemics of diphtheria, it has been shown that while the milk was the vehicle of infection, the milk did not receive its infective power from a human source. In fact, Dr Klein has proved that cows suffer from diphtheria, that the bacilli appear in the sores on the udders, also are present in the milk in large numbers. The above instances clearly show the absolute necessity for stringent precautions regarding the milk supply. Far

from th© new regulations being too exacting, they mignt well, in the interests of the public health, have been mad'fot even more stringent. S / t . yi jf Farmers, dairymen and milk-sellers will doubtless do their utmost by carrying out the necessary principles of cleanlines-:. bo protect* the population from the dangers of an impure .milk supply. Yet. when all the regulations are fulfilled, dairymen cannot be expected to detect bacteria in the milk. Only bacteriological examination of the milk can prove the presence or absence of disease germs. Some of the London sanitary authorities have the various milk suppliers in their districts examined by bacteriological experts. The writer saw the result of on© of these examinations in the laboratory of a London bacteriologist, and it proved that although the sample of milk appeared to the naked eye to be as good as could be wished for, there were yfet present enough disease bacteria to warrant the condemnation of the milk as human food.

When the people of .N evy. Zealand realise the importance of sanitary precautions, they will insist on the authorities providing for bacteriob.-gioal examination of the milk, meat ana water supply. Before such progress in guarding the safety of the public health can be made. Government should provide and properly equip laboratories, at least in the four chief towns. ' "

The New Zealand Produce Commission er in London (Mr H. C. Cameron) having been instructed to include cocksfoot in his weekly quotations in future, has decided that the quotations cabled shall be the average price ruling for bright, clean seed weighing 17ib to the bushel. He reports that the market for cocksfoot seed throughout the past year has been dull, prices receding steadily from 425. until they reached 82s. Lately they have been recovering, and now 34s to 88s is obtainable for nice, bright seed.

weighing,' say, cn an average I7|lb. Business ; s not at all brisk, and there are considerable stocks in- store to be disposed of. The demand for this seed has been, decreasing in England, the chief purchases made being for the Continent and Scotland. When prices rise, America sends, considerable quantities of cocksfoot to England. American seed is generally clean and of superior quality. Mr Cameron thinks it is not known in New Zealand that the cocksfoot seed heir vested here in one season is seldom sold in England till the following year. It arrives there in June or July, when merchants are not desirous of purchasing Therefore, owing to the necessity of holding the seed so long, he doubts if the quotatons of prices ruling one season v. ill be of very great assistance to growers in deter mining prices to be paid for seed in a coining harvest,.

There is a village in Maine whose people are so conscientiously vegetarian that they will not keep cows, or hens, eat butter, nc/r bum tallow candles. The community is remarkably healthy, and the girls are famous for their beauty.