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45
UNCLEAN MILK.
(Special Report presented to the Council on April 28th, 1904.)
The question of milk supply has recently been brought
prominently forward, and a feeling seems to be growing that
steps should at once be taken with a view to ensuring the milk
supply of the Metropolis being clean and wholesome (i.e., free
from dirt), irrespective of the usual adulterations met with, and
which are dealt with under the Food and Drugs Acts. I have
taken, recently, half-a-dozen samples of milk from different parts
of the Borough, and submitted them to examination. The
samples show, in each case, a sediment, to a greater or lesser
extent, and this sediment is found, on bacteriological and microscopical
examinations, to consist of hairs, vegetable and cotton
fibres, scales, bacteria, spores, etc. The sediments were
brownish, greyish, whitish, and greenish. Each sample was,
bacteriologically, carefully taken (i.e., in a sterilised bottle), and
examined at once. The samples may be numbered A B C D E
and F—the first three being taken from the Inner, and the last
the from the Outer, Districts.
Average No. of
bacteria present
per c.c. (i.e., 15 drops).
Inner IVards—
Sample A—Good-class shop 1,900,000
Sample B—Poor-class shop 4,700,000
Sample C—In the street . 5,200,000
Outer IVards—
Sample D—Good-class shop 1,700,000
Sample E—Poor-class shop 4,200,000
Sample F—In the street 3,200,000
The medium in which the bacteria were cultivated was
gelatine. The milk was diluted a thousand times with carefully
sterilised water before inoculating the media. The kindsjof
bacteria found were:—(1) lactic acid bacteria, ,(2) staphylococci,
(3) streptococci, (4) sarcince, (5) diplococci, (6) micrococci, (7)
bacillus coli, etc.; whilst pus cells, epithelial scales, debris, etc.,
were found also. No pathogenic germs were found. The bacteria