MILK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 499, 31 October 1928, Page 11

MILK

AN ESSENTIAL FOOD (Contributed by the Department of ' Health.) Milk is our best all-round food because it contains in itself all the components of a complete dietary, and is produced in Nature solely for the purpose of serving as a food. It has in substantial amounts representatives of the three essential types of foodstuffs, viz., proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. In addition, it is particularly rich in mineral matter, and is by no means locking in vitamins or “accessory food factors.” Certain writers claim that the races and nations of men which have done most in the development of the ■world, and have shown the greatest physcal strength and vigour, are those which have depended to the largest extent on milk and dairy products *for their food. Therefore, the' importance of a plentiful and wholesome supply of this article of diet cannot be over-estimated. There are many foods that can be put on the table with little or no preparation, each of them useful for one purpose. But milk is the only all-purpose food that comes to us ready for use and requires no preparation. Milk is suitable for grown people as well as for children, and helps to secure an efficient and well-balanced ration.. The daily amount, best suited to any individual naturally varies with the amount and kind of other food he takes. THE SAFE PLAN Speaking generally, however, the safe plan is to drink plenty of milk "and use it freely in cooking. While it is a great help to men and women who want to keep strong and vigorous and youthful, it is especially valuable for the sick and aged. For growing children it is an absolute necessity. Its proteins and its rich supply of certan vitamins promote health. If a child gets sufficient milk a day with rfesh vegetables, fruits, and some meat, eggs, and cereals, he will have the necessary variety to give all the nourishment and vitamins he needs. However, it should not be used as an exclusive diet, except in early infancy. Unfortunately some families . give their children tea and coffee instead of milk. Tea and coffee are nothing more than stimulants. They are not foods in a true sense. They do not nourish. As stimulants they are sometimes useful to adults, but children are better without them. Though milk may cost a little more than it used to, so do many other things, some of which affect its price, such as cattle feed, farm labour, and transportation. But even so, milk is cheap in comparison with other foods of much less nutritious value, and therefore, cutting down the njilk bill Is poor economy. Care Of Mi.lk in the Home Milk should be kept in the coolest place available preferably in some simple form of home-made dust-proof cooler. Access of . dust should be avoided, chiefly, by ensuring that the house is as free from dust as cleanliness can make it. The milk should always be put in clean vessels; a jug which has. held milk should be rinsed out, first in cold water and then washed in hot water and soda, and for babies’ milk it should certainly be finally scalded with boiling water and placed, upside down without drying on a rack to drain. A good method of protecting milk in jugs or bottles is to make net covers of white material known as “mosquito netting” cut large enough to cover the mouths of the different receptacles. To_ the edge of those circular pieces ’ glass beads should be sewn, the weight of which will tighten the net over the edge. These net covers should be kept scrupulously clean. Pasteurisation The germs of disease get into milk so easily that some reliable way to purify the milk is essential. The scientist, Pasteur, who saw the need of an easy, cheap, and reliable way to destroy these germs,. discovered the process now known as' pasteurisation. Milk is heated to a temperature of I*l2 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and is held there for 30 minutes; a higher temperature or a longer time is not necessary; a lower temperature or a shorter time may not kill the harmful bacteria. Then, after the milk has been heated in this manner it must be chilled immediately and kept cold. Pasteurisation does not make pool milk rich or dirty milk clean, its onlj object is to destroy injurious germs It neither harms nor improves the milk itself, except that it lessens the amount of anti-scurvy vitamin anc destroys injurious germs. Except foi the slight reduction of anti-scurvy vitamin there is no more objection te pasteurising milk than there is t< broiling beefsteak. The milk re mains just as digestible and just ai nutritious as raw milk. It still re tains also many of the harmless am hardy forms of bacteria which con tinue to grow and multiply so that thi milk sours and curdles just as rav milk does although more slowly.

Pasteurisation -can be effected in the home by heating the milk in a double boiler keeping it between 142 an*. 145 degrees Fahrenheit for threequarters of an hour. If you have no thermomoter bring the milk just to the boiling point to make sure the harmful germs are killed, then chill it quickly and keep it cold and covered.