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98
Milk and Dairies Amendment Act, 1922.
Under the Milk (Special Designations) Order, 1923, made under this
Act the Council issued licences for sale of:—
Certified milk 16
Grade A (Tuberculin tested) milk 20
Grade A milk 6
Pasteurized milk 31
Grade A pasteurized milk 2
Samples of Certified milk were examined bacteriologically at the
request of the Ministry of Health.
One producer was not able to supply a distributor in this area with
certified milk, as, owing to a heath fire, which destroyed a large area
of his pasturage, he had to curtail his production. One distributor ceased
to sell certified milk.
Twelve samples of certified milk were taken for bacteriological
examination. Of these, three were unsatisfactory on account of high
bacterial counts, which were 98,000, 167,500 and 900,000 bacteria
per c.c., and in addition, in the last sample B. Coli was present.
Suitable action was taken with the producers by the Ministry of
Health, as the City Council has no power to deal with these infringements.
Pasteurization is not undertaken at any premises in the City.
Undulant Fever.—The notification of a case of this febrile illness
suggested the investigation of samples of certified milk for the presence
of this infection. The infection which is far from being uncommon
among cattle is responsible for the condition known to veterinary
surgeons as "contagious abortion." The causal organism is named
brucella abortus after Sir David Bruce the military bacteriologist who
carried out such successful researches in the kindred disease, Malta
Fever. The organism cannot survive in milk if pasteurization is applied.
Attention was therefore directed to Certified milk which by regulation
must not be submitted to any treatment by heat and is bottled at the
farm. Of the four samples of milk examined, two gave positive evidence
of infection by brucella abortus. Milk infected by this organism if
consumed by human beings may give rise to Undulant Fever. This
disease although never of a fatal character may give rise to prolonged
feverish illness with periods of remission. It may cause considerable
invalidism. It is quite possible that a number of cases of ill-defined