GERM FREE MILK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 21, 6 September 1946, Page 5

GERM FREE MILK

NEW PASTEURISATION PLANT SUPPLY FOR SCHOOLS Heated to a temperature of 145 degrees, cooled quickly to 40 degrees, bottled, and placed in a cool store ready for distribution, during the whole process, the milk remaining untouched by human hand; such is the process of pasteurisation. For the past three weeks, such a plant has been operating along the above lines in Whakatane. Owned by Mr P. Farnworth and Son, it was installed for the purpose of supplying milk to the schools in the Whakatane district, and has been extended to cope with the supplying of outside consumers, principally at Ohope. It is situated approximately half a mile this side of Poroporo.

Housed in a modern concrete building, the plant is under constant supervision by the Health Department. The milk is brought into the stage and emptied into a vat. From there it is pumped into the pasteuriser, a steam heated circular va,t, where it is held for thirty minutes at « temperature of 145 degrees F. It is in this stage of the pasteurising that the whole secret lies. At 142 degrees, all harmful bacteria in the milk are destroyed. If the temperature rises above 150 degrees, detrimental changes take place in the milk. The whole process is regulated from a recording thermometer, accurate to thirty-five parts in a thousand of a degree. At 143 degrees, germs of tuberculosis, the last to succumb, no longer remain- alive.

The milk is then pumped out of the pasteuriser up to a higher vat, and from there it flows over an aerator which drops the temperature sharply to 40 degrees, and into a bottling and capping machine. The bottles are prepared to ensure absolute sterilisation. They are placed on revolving brushes and scoured. Next they are automatically rinsed and placed over st.eam jets. From there they are placed in the bottling machine, filled, capped, and put into the cool store where they remain at a constant temperature of 40 degrees until ready to be delivered.

Approximately 100 gallons per day are at present dealt with but with the commencement of the school supply on Monday, the quantity will be increased by 150 gallons.