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169
question that sanitary authorities are most concerned, and in
this respect the necessity for some more adequate control over
the sources of the milk supply will be at once apparent, when
the various sources of contamination to which milk is exposed
in its passage from the farm to the consumer, and that the
sanitary authority has no control over it until its arrival in their
district, are remembered.
Contamination of milk may take place
1. At the farm.
2. In transit.
3. After arrival at the milk-shop.
4. In the house of the consumer.
The conditions under which milk is produced at the farm
are notoriously unsatisfactory. These have reference to diseases
of the cow (e.g., tuberculosis: 7 per cent. of the milk
supply of London is said to contain the tubercle bacilli), want
of grooming of the cows, insanitary, badly lighted and illventilated
cowsheds, uncleanly methods of milking, and diseased
or dirty milkers. From personal observation I can testify
as to the insanitary conditions of cowsheds in various parts of
England. Very little attempt is in many districts made to
enforce the provisions of the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops
Order in relation to farms where milk is produced. A more
general levelling up to a fair sanitary standard is urgently
called for, and this can only be accomplished by strengthening
the present law, and forcing local authorities in rural districts
to make use of the powers they already possess, but which they
fail to do.
Milk is subject to contamination in transit to the milkshop
owing to the long time it has to remain in the train, very
often in unsuitable vans, or lying on dusty platforms. Railway
companies ought to be compelled to provide refrigerator vans
for the conveyance of milk. In milk, unless kept cool, bacteria
rapidly develop, hence it is important to keep the temperature
down to about 40° F. The condition in which milk arrives
at its destination, after being eight or ten hours on rail in an