INSPECTION OF DAIRIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 8

INSPECTION OF DAIRIES.

At the annual meeting of the National Dairy Association the president, Mr Jas. Milne, moved the following motion, which wAs carried unanimously : " That all persons supplying milk to factories or creameries should be registered, and that Government should appoint qualified inert to inspect their premises and instruct thens ■in the best methods for producing good, clean milk, etc." Dealing with this question at a similar meeting of the Bedford Dairy Association, in Canada, the president, Mr H. S. Foster, made the following remarks: — "We have bad 15 years of toperience, and yet to-day there is a great amouat of indifference on the part of the people engaged in the dairy industry, and we have arrived at the condition of affairs where coercion is absolutely necessary. There is no question about that. We are arrived at the time when no single man can do it, and it has got to be done by the Provincial Government. All theso things are directly in our interest, and we want to take them up. Persuasion only in this business is insufficient. Some coercion is a necessity that is exercised through the provincial authorities. Article * 5*84 of the Revised Provincial Statutes and the Dominion 52 Vie, c. 4-3, 1889, strictly \ define clean and insanitary milk, making it unlawful to sell or deliver the ■same to any creamery or cheese factory or milk-condensing factory. It should also prohibit the manufacture for sale of any . article of food from unclean or insanitary milk Or from cream from the same aaidt define unclean and insanitary milk as that drawn from cows kept in barns or stable's not well lighted or ventilated, or that are filthy from an accumulation of animal refuse, or from any. other cause, or from* cows which are themselves in a filthy condition, and milk in or from cans or other* utensils that are not kept in a. clean an<f sanitary condition, or from milk drawm from cows fed on unwholesome food or milk contaminated by being kept in stables containing cattle or other 'animals, and cream from any such milk. The location, construction, and sanitary conditions of all butter and cheese factories require the immediate attention of an independent tribunal of inspection, entirely separate front syndicate officials, that will make definite reports to the Minister of Agriculture, and give advice as t<y improvements necessary for turnin.fr out gilt-edged qualities." Mr J. A. 'Ruddiok, who was present, chose for his address the subject of " Sanitation and Dairying," and remarked:-— " The man who delivers impure or imperfect milk to a cheese factory or creamery is robbing hiß neighbours — robbing them to a much grater extent than -many people seem to believe. I believe the question of th© improvement of the quality of our dairy products would be settled in a short time if the patrons (milk suppliers) of factories only realised how much they are losing in this connection who deliver milki that is- not in proper condition. While I was employed by our friend Mr Maopherson as superintendent over his numerous factories, it was part of my duty to inspect the milk *or adulteration. It was necessary to give a great deal of attention to this matter. If there was even a suspicion that, some patron was watering or skimming his milk, the others were up in arms at once, and would raise no end of a row. I toll you, gentlemen, that for every dollar that patrons have. been robbed of in such ■» manner they have lost hundreds of dollars on account of the milk not being properly cared for, and through

♦he factories not being in the sanitary contiition necessary to make tbe best of it. I want to emphasise that point." A committee was appointed which reported that "a memorial should be presented to the Honourable the Commissioner of Agriculture for the province, praying the Government (first) to take such stops as may be necessary to obtain full and ' reliable information regarding the sanitary conditions .of cheese factories and creameries and the sanitary conditions under which milk is produced at the farms ; and (second) to take such further stepa as may be necessary, by means of inspection and by the enactment and enforcement of laws and regulations, to prevent insanitary conditions from prevailing, and from becoming a menace to the continued extensioi and prosperity of the dairy business. (Third) That the questions of establishing official standards of quality for butter and cheese and of the official grading of tie same he referred to the Dominion and Provincial Departments of Agriculture." Inis ..report was. unanimously adopted, as there seemed to^ be no two opinions regarding the necessity for action on the lines r f tie , suggestion.