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But this control must commence at the last stage, namely, that at which it is
sold to the public. To commence at the other end, that is, at the cow, and to
officially supervise all the numerous details in the manipulation of milk until it
reaches the consumer would require an immense number of Inspectors and be a
most costly task, and would also require public authorities to prescribe so many
complicated regulations as to the conduct of the business and the provision of
plant, implements, &c., as to become intolerable. If one could conceive a system
bv which milk could be drawn in a cleanly manner from a healthlv cow's udder
directly into a clean bottle, immediately stoppering and remaining stoppered
until it reached the consumer, the matter would be very simple; such an ideal
does not exist, and we have to deal with conditions as we find them. The only
practical remedy is a limit to the amount of extraneous matter found, at the
point of ultimate sale, upon analysis.
III.—The infections of typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and epidemic
sore throat, have from time to time been conveyed in milk from country farms
and dairies, and caused epidemics. With a view to rapidly discovering the
source of these and promptly arresting them, inquiry was made in 1902 as to
the sources of supply of every milk retailer in St. Pancras, and almost without
exception the information was freely given when it was explained that the
object was not only to protect the public, but also the milk retailers in St.
Pancras against the importation of infection into the Borough, by tracing it
rapidly to its source and stopping it there should the occasion arise. This
information is tabulated and is available for reference at a moments notice,
and will be kept corrected as nearly as possible up to date.
The law to prevent the spread of dangerous infectious disease by milk is
cumbersome to enforce in its present form, but it could be greatly simplified.
Tn all cases of dangerous infectious diseases that are notified, inquiry is made,
amongst other matters, into the milk supply of the patient. It is only in this
manner that the milk of a particular vendor may become suspected, and further
inquiry in this direction will negative or reasonably confirm the suspicion.
If the evidence is sufficiently strong to justify the suspicion of the milk of a
particular vendor, it is then usual to forthwith inform him, to ascertain the state
of health of his staff and condition of his premises, and to at once trace out the
implicated milk and advise him to cease distributing it—advice that he is
only too anxious to follow to protect his own business. If the inquiry
prove that there is no suspicion attached to his staff or premises, he will in his
own defence cease to receive the implicated milk, and so far as the particular
area is concerned the spread of infection will be stayed. There is also a
cumbersome legal procedure by which the Sanitary Authority may officially
exclude the implicated milk from its own area, but this does not prevent the
middleman or farmer from sending it elsewhere. What is required is the power
to very heavily mulct a farmer, middleman, or other vendor of milk who can
be proved to have spread infectious disease through milk within a certain time
after having been informed in writing by a Medical Officer of Health that his
milk has been ascertained to have spread infectious disease.