ENFORCING CLEANLINESS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 59, 11 March 1913, Page 8

ENFORCING CLEANLINESS.

IN THE MILK SUPPLY. Mr R. B. Wade, giving evidence before the Food Commissioner (Mr Bavin.) at Sydney made certain recommendations for the improvement of regulation and supervision of the milk stipplv, which will be of interest to all.

There should be, to begin with, lie s:iid, one central authority for the whole State, this authority being the Board of Health. All dairies, milk distributing depots, and so on, should be registered, and under the control of that department. Then it was only fair to the. dairyman that the dairies should be graded, a certain number of marks being allowed for the health of the cattle, cleanliness in milking, and so on; and no dairy should be allowed registration which fell below a fixed standard of marks. As to the percentage of butter-fat to be required, there should be a sliding scale, which would be fixed monthly, varying according to the season, or each dairy should be allowed to fix its own standard, and put a statement on its cans setting forth what its percentage was. There should be a minimum standard for all milk. The milk should be divided into grades. The first, sold as extra pure, should have a bacterial count not exceeding 50,000. This would be expensive milk, but it would probably pay dairymen to take on the business. The milk would be supplied only in air-tight sterilised bottles, and the vendor would have the right to -label the bottles as containing guaranteed milk. The second grade would be divided into two lots. One would have a bacterial count of under 500,000, and for/the second, sen I long distances from the country, the count should not exceed 500,000. That milk should he sterilised or pasteurised.

In the course of other evidence. Dr Wade said the chief danger to consumers from milk of a high bacterial count was that it might contain germs capable of setting up infections die ease. I| a cow were healthy, there would he a low bacterial count before its milk was handled, and a high bacterial count would show that there had been* uncleanliness at some stage ol the handling of the milk. Pasteurisation was a distinct avantage if r bacterial test were made beforehand, and the milk was distributed within a limited time afterwards. Pasteurised or sterilised milk for children would require the addition of some fresh pro ducts to the diet, such as fruit. Scurvj was otherwise liable to result, but cases of scurvy were very few and fai between, and this risk was very small In pasteurisation the lactic acid organisms were destroyed, and the putrefactive and other organisms were, af ter pasteurisation, apt to increase at a greater rate than before.

The Commissioner: The conclnsior is that it is not safe to allow dirty milk to he pasteurised?—That is so. Dr. Wade thought that as the milk business increased it would he neces sary for the Railway Commissioner: 'to provide refrigerating cars for con veying milk long distances. Ho agreed that pasteurisation did not kill al the bacteria in milk, and that tin destruction of the lactic acid organ isms allowed the spore-bearing organisms to grow unrestrictedly. Anothei objection was that it enabled stab milk to he sold as fresh, though Ik differed from Savage in “Milk and the Public Health,” as to the point al which danger came in. It might al so lead to the neglect of sanitary pro cautions, hut he did not think it dim inished the nutritive properties of tlx milk.

The Chairman quoted the opinion: of Dr. Frengley, Health Officer fot Wellington (New Zealand), in opposi tion to pasteurisation. Amongst otlie: tilings, ho stated that he agreed witl he Danish scientist who declared tha J the dealer who pasteurised good mill was a fool, and the dealer who pas teurised foul milk was a knave. The witness replied that he did nol agree with these opinions at all. The Chairman said that Dr. Frengley suggested the addition of a culture of lactic acid after pasteurisation.

Dr. Wade replied that lio did not lliink this necessary if the milk were handled properly after pasteurisation. The Chairman: Does this accord generally with your view of pasteurisa tion, that it is on the whole useful, because it is difficult to ensure cleanliness in production ? Dr. Wade: Yes. T think that practically it is impossible to ensure true cleanliness from pathogenic organism: in the production and handling of milk The rost, for example, of medically su porvising all the employees would render it Impossible,