THE NEW DAIRY REGULATIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4295, 2 March 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE NEW DAIRY REGULATIONS

| CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY. l ' E_ i (By E. E. Bracher, Associate of the I Sanitary Institute, London). j (From the "N.Z. 3lai!.”j j In order to illustrate further the wisdom of and the necessity for the new Hairy Regulations, it will be interesting to state whan is being done in other countries with regard to control of tire milk supply. Dr Newshoime, a well-known writer and lecturer on hygiene, medical officer of health for Brighton (England), and hon. editor of “Public Health,” gives tho following account of the work done by some milk supply associations in Denmark, Sweden and Berlin. In all oases it will bs seen that tho problem of a pure milk supply resolves itself int» a question of minute attention to detail; but the details are so important and carefully worked cut that they deserve to bo widely known.

The guarantees that the Copenhagen Milk Supply Association give of the purity of t-iieir milk are:—(l) Veterinary control of all the cows on the farms and exclusion of tho raiik from suspected animals; (2) cooling of the milk by ice to 41 deg. F., or lower, at the farms, and at tho company’s depot; (3) filtration or tho whole of the milk through fine gravel; and (4) absolute cleanliness of all tho bottles and cans used, and the fact that they are delivered under the security of thy company’s seal.

The company has in its service seven veterinary surgeons, one of whom derates the whole of his time to tho work of visiting the farms in rotation. One of the conditions is that all cows in summer must be fed in the open fields on grass and clover. Stall feeding, except tm winter, is strictly px-ohibited. Lit Denmark the custom is universal to j tether the cattle out at short distances j from one another, so that every inch of j ground is covered, and tho farmer can estimate almost exactly how much grass has been eaten. The veterinary surgeon examines each cow at every visit, only as rcgjtrds the condition of the udder. Each farm is visited twice a month. Hast year, among the 5000 or 6000 cows supplying milk to tho company, 122 were found to be tuberculous, but only in two of those was the udder affected. If the veterinary surgeon detects a tuberculous cow, it must bo at once separated from the others and got rid of as soon as possible. Or if he thinks that the health of a cow is so bad that the milk may bo prejudicially affected thereby, ho may order the withdrawal of the milk for a. certain time. The farmer is bound ! to report every case of illness occurring between the veterinary surge on’s visits and to withhold the milk until he arrives. Infectious disease occurring amongst the employees must be at once reported to the company, and tho milk kept back. Other conditions which are sot down in the agreement between the farmer and the company have reference to tho storage of milk and the feeding of tho animals. The greatest cleanliness must be observed in the milking, and, a.-ii has been stated, the milk must at once be cooled to 41dog. P. by ice, having first been strained through a sieve covered by a clean woollen cloth. The food in winter consists chiefly of rapeseed, oilcake, hay and straw; anything likely to give the milk an unpleasant taste. such as turnips, etc., is absolutely forbidden. It might very naturally bo asked; “How have the farmers been brought to ascpiiesco in these strict conditions, entailing both extra trouble and expense, imposed on them by the company?'* Tho answer is simply that it has been done by an appeal to their pockets, the company agreeing t>o pay them a better price than they could get from any other buyer. Even the milk that is withheld, owing to temporary sickness of an animal or employee is paid for at full price, just as though it wore used. The company's premises are clcse to the railway, so that very little time is lost in transit. When the whole of the milk for the day has arrived, the milk from every can is tested, and a sample from every farm is taken for analysis. The milk is-then filtered, the arrangements for which are unique. In the filtering apparatus the filtering material is fine gravel placed in perforated tin trays. The gravel in the lowest tray is about the size of a split pea, and in the highest that of a pin’s head. Tho milk is poured into the receptacle, and passes by a process of upward filtration into the receiver, from which the cans and litre bottles are filled. The amount and nature of the filth kept back by the gravel have to be sdon to be believed, and this too, notwithstanding the precautions taken in. milking. The cans and bottles are then placed in trays containing ice until required for distribution. About 3000 litre bottles are filled every evening, and the milk in them, is guaranteed to keep fresh for 24 hours. Every can and bottle is most scrupulously cleansed before being used. For cleansing the cans a little soda is introduced, and a strong jet of steam is made to play upon the interior. Nor is the size of the cans so great that the bottom cannot bo easily reached by the hand and v/ell scrubbed. The bottles are cleansed by a soda solution, and the insertion of a brush_ turned by machinery, being washed out afterwards witu sterilized water. When empty all bottics and cans are placed on racks bottom upwards, so that air can not only circulate round them, but under them, as well. The conmpany does a large business in cream also, which is treated n. just the same way, even to the filtering. Tho cream is, however, never got by the use of a separator, as it is contended that ordinary skimmed milk is still a most valuable food. Another great feai uve of tho company’s work is the production of “children’s milk.*’ Omy the milk from tho best and healthiest cows is used for this, and special regulations exist as to their food in winter. A great impetus, too, has recently been given to the preparation of “Pasteurised milk. Bottles of the milk to be pasteurised are placed in frames in a trough of water. A coil of steam pipes heats this to a temperature of 75 deg. C., where a contact thermometer rings a bell which gives the signal for shutting off the steam. When the water has cooled clown to 60 deg. C. the bottles of milk are taken out and placed in ice. m guaranteed to keep for 48 liours. For the sake of infants that must be bottlefed, pasteurised milk variously diluted is prepared. A Cumberland filter supplies the: water, and tho bottles with the degrees of dilution labelled on them aie sold in cruets containing just such a number as is sufficient for one day. The feeding nipple fits on to the neck of Lie bottle, so. that there is no length of iudia rubber tubing to become foul. Analyses of the milk-are made not only at the company’s depot, but also nnejer the direction of Professor Bohr, wno publishes monthly tjie results of the daily analyses. All the milk that-re-mains unsold is used for making butter. The price paid for the milk is as follows :

g ; —Childrens milk. Is per gallon; sweet I milk, lOcl a gallon; half-skimmed milk, j od per gallon ; No. I cream, 5s per gal- | Ion: No. 2 cream, 3s per gallon. The ! company is on a firm financial basis, and I pays its dividend of 5 per cent, on the ! capital invested. More than this it is ! not allowed to pay, as when the company ; was started in 1878 express provision, was I made that anything over and above the i 5 per cent, interest should b© devoteu i to lowering the price of the milk, and *■> ' j improving the general arrangements. It 7 j is interesting to know that the founder 5 of the company would not undertake the " j task without first receiving an assurance - of support from, the medical profession. The company in Stockholm undertakes . the sale of two kinds of milk—namely, [ controlled and uncontrolled. What is , meant by “controlled milk" is that coming from the company’s own cows under the most careful supervision possible. On its large estate, some 30 miles from the city, the company has built two largo cowsheds ; the walls, floors and feeding troughs are cemented; the sheds are well lighted and ventilated; - one shed has 150, the ether 180 cows. The great difference between the Copenhagen and Stockholm arrangements is that in the latter, and almost invariably in Sweden the cows are kept in sheds both summer and winter, only occasionally getting nut for exercise, whereas in the former they must be out in the fields throughout the summer. A staff of men. is constantly engaged in cleaning the animals and removing the refuse. There is no smell in I the buildings, as everything is quickly j absorbed by the dried peat, which partially fills the channel into which the excreta pass. Before milking is begun the floor is swept perfectly clean, and the milkmaids must wash their hands, wear special aprons, and clean the udders carefully. All the cans are washed- with boiling water, and the milk is strained through muslin and very fine copper wire gauze before being removed to the cooling room, where is is kept in ice li l scut away. Tho most important point in the sanitary control is the fact that the company employs a qualified veterinary surgeon, who lives on the estate and regularly examines the animals, paying careful attention to the detection of tubercle. Any animal found to be affected with, tubercle must be got rid of. Nor does the company keep any cows more than a few-years. After they have calved two or three times they are sold, so that only those at their best milking periods are in the stalls. The milk from cows that have newly calved must be withheld seven days. Great stress is laid on the importance of keeping the standard of “children's milk* as high as possible, all the finest and healthiest cows being set aside to furnish it. Tho charge for the controlled milk is 18 ' ore per litre (about 2d), and for uncontrolled 15 ore, a difference which, considering the infinitely superior guarantee as to purity given by the former, is not great. On the estate there is a small hospital for isolating- any case of infectious that may occur amongst i the employees on the farm. - The methods adopted by these two ' companies are being largely imitated on the Continent. In Berlin are two large milk businesses. Tho Milch. Kuranstalt of 1 Herr Grub, is designed to provide milk * of the first qualitv for children and invalids. No cream, butter, or cheese is : made. Stalls for 250 cows are provid- ’ ed ; they arc lofty and 1 well ventilated; ‘ tho floor is made of cement, and the ( walls, to a height of eight feet, aro ' covered- with white glazed porcelain tiles. * Dried peat serves to absorb the excreta, and prevents any unpleasant smell. " Only such animals as come from the 1 healthiest breeds (chiefly Swiss) are 1 bought, and, as a rule, they are not kept 1 for more than one year. No animal is 1 accepted without the district veterinary ] surgeon’s certificate as to its healthy J condition; and before its milk is utilised, it is placed in an observation stall i for some days, under the control of the f company’s own veterinary surgeon, who i also regularly examines all the animals i in the institution. As food stuffs, only c hay from the Iwia Alps, and wheat-meal ( are allowed. Brewers’ grain, various t oil-cakes, and even grass are excluded, f Before milking the udder is carefully < washed and the milk is received into 1 pails made out of one piece of metal t with no sharp angles. Great stress r- i laid on the importance of removing as i quickly as possible from the cowshed the < milk that is drawn, and therefore, as c soon as 5 or 6 pails are full, they are e removed, and tho milk is cooled down in i a, Lawrence cooler. The litre bottles, I having previously been cleaned .by wash- i ing in soda solution and brushing, are 1 then filled, stoppered by a patent porcelain cap, stamped with a leaden stamp, and despatched to the city twice J daily. A large business is also done 1 in the preparation of sterilised milk. 1

The other company in Berlin has between 30,000 and 40,000 customers. No cows are kept on the premises, all the milk coming twice daily to the centra! station from the farmers with whom the company has mad© contracts. Conditions are imposed on these similar to those in force in Copenhagen; also the company has its own veterinary surgeon. All the milk, as soon as it arrives, is filtered through three layers of fine gravel. The milk is sold in bottles, all .sealed and stamped, and also from cans provided with a tap. A large business is done by this company in the way of sterilised milk, cream, butter and cream cheese.

From the above account it will bo clearly seen that a much needed reform in tho retail milk trade here, is the distribution of milk in sealed bottles, so that no possible contamination can take place while it is in transit to the consumer.

Another point of importance is the primary necessity of a pur© milk supply for infants and young children. The new regulations, when carried into effect, should produce, as one result, a lowering of the high death-rate of children under one year of age. Infants and young children are more susceptible to the attacks of disease producing microbes than adults, therefore it is a matter of the greatest importance (especially since the birth-rate is falling) that those infants who have to be fed on cow’s milk should receive a pure supply. The New Zealand Year Book for 1899 states that 89 out of every 1000 male children and 70 out of every 10000 females born in this country die before attaining the age of one year. The high death rate of infants is, however, by no means to be entirely attributed to a contaminated milk-supply. Most probably the majority of deaths are caused by ignorance on the part of the mothers of the simple laws of health governing the functions of the digestive organs. Somehow, even so-called “'well-educated” women seem to regard milk as only a drink, and not a food for infants. Good cow’s milk is a perfect food and drink for infants (it requires to be diluted with two parts water and a little sugar added, for very young babies); it contains all that is necessary for the growth and development of' a child’s body until it is eight or nine months old. Many mothers persist in giving their babies arrowroot,

I cornflour, etc.. by so doing, they are, if | not actually killing the child, ruining its | digestive organs for life probably.

j In Franc© the Government, despairing { of any increase in to birth-rate of their • laud, are now endeavouring to save the j lives of the few children that are born, j Accordingly they -have passed laws for. | bidding, under severe penalties, tho givI ing of solid food to infants under one year- of age, unless it be ordered by a j legally qualified doctor’s prescription, also forbidding nurses to use any feed, j ing-bottles with rubber tubes for ini {ants. I Will the New Zealand women realise their responsibility t© the nation in this matter, or will it be necessary for the Government here to pass similar stringent laws regarding tho feeding of infants?

When tho more thoughtful women realise the importance for the present and future generations of the study, knowledge and practice of the laws of health, they will perhaps band themselves into a women's national health society, which will take, as one of its chief duties, the spread of information amongst women of the proper feeding of infants and young children. The English Women’s National Health Society, of which the late Duke of Westminster was the president, does a great deal of useful work in this direction, i-y means of lectures, classes and the publication of cheap pamphlets written by competent authorities. Well dees Herbert Spencer say:—“Knowledge which subserves direct self-preservation by preventing a loss of health is of primary importance. As vigorous health and its accompanying high spirits are large elements of happiness, the teaching how to maintain them is a teaching that yields in moment to no other whatever. . Is it not monstrous that the fate -of a hew generation should bo left to the chances of unreasoning custom, impulse, fancy—joined with the suggestion of ignorant nurses and the prejudiced counsel of grandmothers?"

It should not be forgotten that good cow’s milk is a most valuable food for young children, as well as for infants. Though the price of milk is raised, a workingman, with a limited income, will do more wisely to spend money in buying plenty of good milk for his children, than in purchasing many loaves of white bread and pounds of tea. Ho need not object to pay more for the milk, if be can depend on the supply being pure and good.

Many cases of disease caused by cow’s milk are not due to tbe dairyman’s careless ness, bub to insanitary treatment of tbe milk after it has been given into the householder’s charge. It is important that care should be exercised as to keeping and storing the milk in private houses, especially in small town houses, where no proper pantries are provided. In such oases, the milk is often placed in a dark ill-ventilated cupboard, which does duty as a pantry, or it is kept in such a place that bad smells from drains, or sinks, or the dust from the street can gain access to it. Now milk is a very absorbent fluid, and.is quickly contaminated by bad gases, effluvia, or germs that are in the atmosphere. Milk thou Id never be kept in a kitchen where there is a sink; in nine cases out of ten, the sink pin© smells badly, particularly in hot weather. In a case of typhoid in an English town, the milk bowl was kept on a sbolf above tbe sink, the sink-pipe was in direct communication with a sew-age-drab* which was in, a most insanitary condition, in fact, quite blocked. As there wove no other cases of typhoid near, and. the sufferer,, a child, was fed every day with milk from this bowl, undobtedly this case of enteric, which came under the writer's own observation, was caused by csHe-snrsK and ignorance in storing the milk suppiv in the house. As soon as the milk has been taken into the house from the milkman -:t * should be boiled at once, and then kept in a safe, well-ventilated place. Also all pans, jugs, or bowls used for boiling or storing the milk should be carefully cleansed with very hot water and soda, and should invariably be washed first before greasy meat-plates, vegetable dishes, etc., the cloth used for washing should bo clean and sweet (it ghould be hung out of doors after being used, and should never be kept on or near the sink) and not, as is so often the case in all kitchens where there is a careless mistress, or still more earless domestics, in a dirtv and iil-smelling condition. It is better, when possible, to keep a certain pan and bowls solely for the milk. White enamel pans and bowls, or china jugs, are the best.

The'chemical composition of milk changes when it stands for some time, so it is always better used as fresh as possible. Where much cow's milk is used in a household for children or invalids, a supply from the milkman should bo taken twice daily. It will be a glad day for sanitarians when everyone agreos with Sir James Crichton Browne, who in a lecture cn “th© Prevention of Consumption” to a deeply-interested audience of thousands, including many workingmen and women, at Liverpool, during a Sanitary Institute Congress, said:—“l would as soon think of eating r.;w meat as of drinking unboiled milk!”