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54
SOPHISTICATED MILK.
In July the Ministry of Health issued a circular letter outlining a policy in
relation to the institution of prosecutions in connection with the sale of adulterated
milk.
Briefly, the circular suggests that prosecutions should only be instituted in
cases of milk adulteration where a series of tests have shown repeated default.
It would appear that the Minister of Health has had his attention directed to
a case in which a milk vendor of good reputation was prosecuted for selling milk
deficient in fat. During the course of the hearing it was shown that special circumstances
existed to account for the deficiency on the occasion when the sample
was purchased.
Whilst I am aware of the fact that conditions of a temporary character may
on occasions cause the milk from cows, which normally give milk of the proper
fat content, to be below that required by the Sale of Milk Regulations, I can only
view with concern the issue of an official circular such as that under consideration.
In the practical administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts I fear that
it will have an effect contrary to the interests of the general public.
In the past every opportunity has been given to milk sellers to submit proof
to a magistrate that the milk yielded by the cows on the day on which the sample
was taken was not tampered with by the seller, and that whatever deficiency of fat
there may have been was the result of natural and temporary circumstances such
as those suggested in the circular. Further, one must not overlook the fact that the
major portion of the milk supply, at any rate to large towns, is the product not of
one cow, or one herd of cows, but frequently is the product of a number of different
herds. It is very rarely indeed that this mixed milk is found below the official
standard.
Moreover, the honest trader rarely has any difficulty in satisfying the local
authority of his bona fides, and so far as I, personally, am concerned I should
always refrain from suggesting the institution of a prosecution in the case of the
first deficient sample taken from a tradesman whose goods had been frequently
sampled and found to be satisfactory.
The unscrupulous trader, however, will, if the suggestion of the Ministry is
put into practice, recognise a way of enriching himself at the expense of the public
and his honest rival, with less risk of punishment than has hitherto been the case.
It is obvious that the probability of the local authority being able to secure repeated
default from a series of tests is remote, as the vendor could forestall the
authority by the adoption of systematic adulteration on certain days ; the consequent
intermittency in results would, undoubtedly, prejudice the case of the local
authority.
It seems difficult to understand why such a concession should be granted to
the sellers of one of the most important items of food unless similar concessions are
granted to vendors of other commodities, and, after consideration of the subject, the
Sanitary Committee passed a resolution regretting the issue of the circular and
expressing the opinion that it should be withdrawn.
ANTHRAX AND THE MILK SUPPLY.
In the month of May information was received from the Medical Officer of
Health of one of the rural areas outside London that a cow on one of the farms in
his area had died from anthrax and that milk from the farm had been sent to a
City dairyman for two days after the death of the affected cow. The supply was
then stopped and on the same day I was notified of the circumstances.
On enquiry in the City it was found that all the milk from the farm in question
had been disposed of and that the churns in which it had arrived had been returned.
The milk, which was described as "Farm Milk," was not bulked with other milkbut
kept separately and delivered to customers who specially desired milk which
had not been pasteurised.
Instructions were given for efficient sterilisation of every receptacle used in
connection with the milk and the proprietor was informed that any case of illness