MUNICIPAL MILK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1011, 29 December 1910, Page 6

MUNICIPAL MILK.

•' 4," report- unoh a municipal milk scheme at'Cob.iirg, Victoria,, by Br Carl, P.' Dyring,. the district health, officer, .is summarised in the "Age:" The scheme,was .inaugurated by the council last summer to' provide' a municipal supply, of .pure milk.for'infants. Of its success, Dr .'DyTihg. says,-. I "there can be. no two opinions 'from an -infant-life savin? point ;of view." It was carried .out, lie remarks,' at practically no cost to the ratepa'yfers, and has produced results whieh.prompt him to urge the. council to extend, the sphere of its-protective action so as to, secure supervision as to tlio management;of tho milk after it.reaches the.home's, of the people, and also as'-.to the feeding of the infants. Discussing the. problem '.of pasteurised versus ui£ pasteurised milk, Dr. Dyring writes:— "Viewing the question fairly, it appears unproven that the pasteurisation of -milk prejudicially,affects it as a food for .infants. . The opponents aver that it is likely to lead, to rickets, - but children fed on fresh, unpasteurized milk 'have developed' rickets while on .-.that food, aud, oil the other hand, in this borough we have seen children who have been continuously on the Willsmere pasteurised milk for twelve months who.have thriven 1 . as satisfactorily as if .they. had been on their natural food. On the . other hand, it is, I think,., acknowledged by all pasteurisation pi-events thei development of, disease-bearing germs. It is. possible to imagine that there could bp such ideal conditions .... . . . that pasteurisation would be unnecessary, but such conditions arc Utopian. . . . Shortly summed up, it is not harmful,..and. is beneficial as a further means of-maintaining tlio purity of tho milk." Dealing with-_tfes handling in households of the milk," when once delivered, and the prevention of curdling, ctc., the doctor says that last year it, was -found that in households where , intelligence was not wanting the- old principle of rapid evaporation from a wet flannel enveloping the bottle was thoroughly effective. Ho pleads farnestly with his council "to go one stop further aiwl see that tho food supply is received by the infant in an uncontaminated state after it reaches the homo This, can only bo done by strict supervision and.'inspection- by a trained nurse."' ~ 1