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1919
26
The Local Food Control Committee has protested against the
price allowed to the producer, but the only reply which the Food
Controller has vouchsafed is that these prices are based upon the
cost of production to the farmer.
Although milk at present prices is not by any means an
economical food, it is an essential one for babies, infants, expectant
and nursing mothers and invalids. Formerly we were dependent
upon fresh milk and condensed milk ; recently enormous strides
have been made in the manufacture of dried or powdered milk, and
I hope to show that the use of dried milk can be safely used under
certain conditions advantageously and economically.
At the beginning of the winter of 1918-1919, when the prices,
of milk were raised, the Local Government Board issued a Circular
and arrangements were made for the distribution of free milk and
milk under cost price. The question of the form in which this
milk should be distributed was debated, and it was decided to try
the experiment of giving vouchers to dairymen so that fresh milk
might be distributed to mothers and children. It may be stated
that the deciding factor in our attitude was not the advantage of
fresh milk in itself, but the possibility that milk in such form would
be used by the persons for whom it was intended, and not shared
with other members of the family.
During the months of October to December, 1918, and the
early months of 1919, the table at the end of this section will show
the number of persons benefitted and the amount distributed and
paid for. When the winter prices of 1919 came into operation the
question was again considered, and it was decided to distribute
dried milk.
The manufacture of dried milk is rapidly assuming proportions
of considerable magnitude. In addition to its use in the preparation
of certain food stuffs, dried milk and its products play a
more important part in the artificial feeding of infants.
The subject of dried milk is of such importance as to warrant
a full description—because probably it will be the means of stimulating
the production of a clean milk. Its manufacture opens up the
possibility of obtaining a clean milk supply in an easier and more
practicable manner than by transport of new milk from a great distance.
It is only in recent years that commercially successful processes
have been brought out for preparing a substance containing
only the solids of milk without the addition of foreign ingredients