MUNICIPAL MILK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 82, 7 April 1934, Page 8

MUNICIPAL MILK

SAFEGUARDING OF HEALTH STEPS THE COUNCIL HAS TAKEN VKRV ALERT INSPECTORATE (By •'ros/idou”) Aledical guidance has indicated fairly forcibly that milk is one of the most desirable foods the human race can take, and the likelihood of a quota being applied to the maik’t for Aew Zealand nutter in Britain is automatically creating a campaign to encourage the use of more milk in this country. Aledical advice also contains a warning that milk is easily contaminated, and that fact, plus the rneieasing demands for it as a rood, is directing intense public attention t(. its control where it is offered for sale fo; human consumption. The problem is very far reaching, and has arisen in every municipality of any importance throughout the Empire. It is pleasing to know that Wanganui, as a municipality, is fully alive to the need for proper safeguards and th-, action taken last year in passing a comprehensive by-iaw, the lull effect of which is now being realised, has improved facilities for ensuring that milk sold within the city is fully up to standard from a nealtu point of view. From the fact tb-.t Wellington has a municipal milk supply and rather stringent by-laws governing the operations of vendors, and that Auckland has launched out with a Alilk Board, it is obvious that satisfactory control of milk sold to a centre of population is a bigger problem than appears at fust glance. Wanganui, with a much smaller population than either of the centres named, has contented itself by dealing with the major side of Wie question, that of e isurinc tha*. the milk sold is lit for human consumption. Other matters relevant to the problem, such as price fixation, have not been taken over, the City Council holding that to enter into that aspect would ultimately lead to the municipaliy absorbing another trading concern, and one of doubtful value. There are two major points on which the Wanganui City Council, through its chief inspector, Air. G. Fear, satisfies itself with regard to milk sold within tho municipality—(l) The question of whether the milk complies with requirements in butterfat and other solids; (2) Whether it is fit for human consumption. 1 It does not necessarily follow that milk rich in butterfat is fit to be consumed. There are many factors, such as dirty cans, yards, unfit herds and so forth, which can easily render the highest tested milk unfit io be used by humans. Accordingly, the City Council’s inspector must look to all sides of the problem. Tho by-law passed last year permits him jurisdiction over every dairy farm supplying milk to the city, and he works in co-operation with the Department of Agriculture in respect to the state of the herds. The department concerns Itseli primarily with the physical condition of the cows, but also deals with dairy farms as a whole, having jurisdiction with regard to plant ana equipment as well, and in the Wanganui district a very dose watch indeed is kept in those directions. In addition, the City Council’s inspector can cope with defects in milk-farm premises which ho considers. are inimical to the supply of dean milk. In the course of his work he operates also under the Foods and Drugs Act. Samples of milk are taken from time to time aud divided into three. Ono third is retained by the vendor, one by the inspector and the remaining third is despatched to Wellington for examination and test by the Government analyst. This is done to determine the quality of the milk in regard to butterfat and other solids. The city by-law permits what is known as the reductase test, which is aimed at determining whether milk is lit to be consumed. This is a much quicker method than the other and the test, which is carried out at the Wanganui Public Hospital by the bacteriologist, must be applied as soon as possible after the sample is taken. Tile city inspector, after taking a sample, numbers the bottle containing it and lists the vendor ’s name opposite that number on a card. The sample, identifiable by number only, is then hurried to the bacteriologist, who applies a test with methylene blue, to determine, among other things, the bacteria content of the milk. This test requires milk to stand up to it for a minimum of hours, ff any sample fails to win through under methylene blue for that length of time there is something requiring investigation, and prompt steps are taken to find out what that “something” is. It may be dirt in the cans, it may be rust, it may be the presence of stale milk. The value of the reductase test ]ios in the fact that it is prompt. There is no waiting and immediate action can follow in its wake. A further provision in tho new milk by-law is that loose milk retailed in tho city must be sold in premises that arc separate from an ordinary shop in which vegetables and like produce is retailed.* Failing the taking over of the milk supply as a whole and running it as a municipal concern, or of handing it over to a board, which would necessitate a levy on every pint sold and thus nn increase in price, the Wanganui City Council has taken every step possible to safeguard the health of the community and at the same time afford it confidence to embark on a “'drink more milk” campaign.