MILK SUPPLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 June 1943, Page 4

MILK SUPPLY

CARE NEEDED ON FARM AND IN HOME

UTMOST CLEANLINESS MOST ESSENTIAL. ADDRESS TO PLUNKET SOCIETY. Various aspects of the town milk supply, from the farm to the point of delivery, were dealt with by Mr T. A. Russell, Borough Health Inspector, in an address given at the annual meeting of the Masterton Plunket Society this afternoon. Mr Russell said the cow was worthy cf every consideration individually and in the herd. Her health should be considered by the eradication as far as possible of disease from the herd, by good winter feeding, and by good shel--ter. Milk, owing to its high food value, its fluid state and its suitability, was easily contaminated by bacteria, some of which were harmful to human beings. Therefore, care was essential right from the cow to the consumer. Production, distribution and home handling all required to be carefully attended to, to ensure that there was no weak link in the chain. Mr Russell [outlined the regulations governing conditions on the farm. The regulations 'set up a good standard. The utmost cleanliness in milkers and machines was essential. Cooling on the farm immediately following milking was very necessary, as one bacterium at 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at which the milk left the cow, increased to one thousand million in 15 hours, while at 50 degrees the increase was only from one to two bacteria. Mr Russell said that in his opinion there was only one dependable method of delivery, and that was in sealed bottles or cartons. The fact of milk not keeping was not always due to the producer or the vendor. The home jug required just as much care as the milk utensils on the farm, and a suitable place to keep the milk was essential. In the consumer’s home pasteurised milk should be kept cool in sealed containers, while raw milk should be boiled immediately on arrival, cooled to as low a temperature as possible, and kept cool in covered containers till just before use.

DISEASES IN MILK. Referring to diseases which might be carried in milk, Mr Russell said bovine tuberculosis could be detected by a simple test, which unfortunately was not compulsory in New Zealand, but for the past eight years, with the cooperation of regular supplying farmers, whose herds had been tested annually, the disease had almost reached vanishing point in the usual Masterton town supplying herds. The request for testing must come from the farmer, and in years like the present, when vendors had to go further afield for supplies, he could not guarantee that the supply was T.B. free. Napier, a few years ago, brought in a by-law making the T.B. testing of all town supplying herds compulsory, but the by-law vzas held by the Supreme Court to be invalid on the ground that the existing law did not give the municipality power to make such a by-law. Prior to that, Mr Russell said, he had placed a remit before the New Zealand Sanitary Inspectors’ Association, requesting the Government to amend the law and make T.B. testing compulsory. This was carried unanimously, and the Municipal Association adopted a similar remit. The latter association was assured by the Director of Agriculture that his department approved the remit in principle, but at that time the cost was considered prohibitive. There was only one grade of milk which was fit for New Zealand babies, and that was the best. Mr Russell said the Masterton Borough Council had now sent on a remit to the Municipal Association requesting the Government to tackle the matter, and he was sure that with the able backing of the Mayor, Mr Jordan, the remit would meet with success.

PASTEURISATION.

Pasteurisation, if efficiently carried cut, said Mr Russell, would make milk safe, and cleanliness on the farm, during distribution and in home storage, would render it clean. Pasteurisation would not cover up or cloak dirt. There was no clash between T.B. testing and pasteurisation. Mr Russell said he believed in both. Authorities today agreed that pasteurisation did not, to any extent, affect the food value of milk, and they certainly agreed that it made it safe. The only satisfactory method of ensuring the final safety of the product was to submit it to some form of heat treatment which could be relied on to destroy any pathogenic organisms. ' It was the considered and emphatic opinion of the League of Nations’ Nutrition Committee that all milk for human consumption should be adequately pasteurised or boiled. He hoped the day was not far distant when Masterton would have a bottled supply of pasteurised milk.