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these firms have done and are still doing much to ensure the
purity of the milk supply to the vendor. These companies have
excellent premises fitted with modern machinery, and make every
effort to supply clean milk.
A further improvement could be brought about if it were
compulsory for milk to be sold in bottles with sealed caps. This
would overcome the possibilities of contamination not only in
shops and in the distribution, but also in the homes of the consumers.
During the year there has been a very large increase in the
use of bottles for retailing milk, other than graded, to the consumer,
one large company delivering entirely by this method,
while other firms, both large and small, are gradually dispensing
with hand cans for bottles with tight-fitting discs.
Pasteurisation of milk is coming into more general use
by the larger distributors. It is claimed that by this process all
pathogenic organisms are destroyed, and provided the pasteurisation
is followed immediately by bottling the milk before it reaches
the household it can be regarded as safe. It is to be hoped that
pasteurisation will not obscure the higher ideal of a clean milk
supply, which the ability of the farmer and the dairyman is quite
capable of producing for consumption.
During the past year a fairly considerable amount of sterilised
milk was supplied by firms having factories both outside and inside
this Borough. After the milk is sterilised it is placed in air-tight,
screw-stoppered bottles, and delivered in crates to the various
retailers. It is claimed that this milk will keep sweet for several
days, according to the temperature. At certain periods after
delivery any stock that remains unsold is collected and replaced
by fresh.
The condition of shops in which milk is sold has improved
considerably of late years.
Milk and Dairies Consolidation Act, 1915.
This Act, which came into force on Ist September, 1925,
gives power to the Ministry of Health to make Orders for the
regulation and inspection of all branches of the milk industry,
with the concurrence of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The first schedule of the Act provides legal machinery for
stopping the supply of milk that is likely to cause tuberculosis.
The sale for human consumption of tuberculous milk or milk
from a cow suffering from certain specified diseases, or the
products of such milk, is definitely prohibited.
All vehicles and the receptacles used for the sale of milk in
public places must be conspicuously inscribed with the name and
address of the person selling the milk. The Act also requires that
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