London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Beckenham 1948

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beckenham]

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Drugs Act, 1938, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not
genuine by reason of the abstraction therefrom of milk fat or milk
solids other than milk fat or the addition thereto of water."

The analysis were as follows:—

fatsolids-not-fat
Afternoon MilkingChurn 14.1%8.7%
Churn 23.6%8.6%
Morning MilkingChurn 13.0%8.7%
Churn 23.3%9.1%
Churn 33.05%8.5%
Churn 42.7%8.7%

It was known that the retailer bottled his milk direct from the churns,
and the above results, particularly of the morning milk, proved that the
farmer was not, in any way, wilfully adulterating the milk. It will be
seen that milk bottled from Churn 4 would give an "illegal" low fat
content. Some purchasers, however, were receiving a high fat content
milk, e.g. the bottles filled from Churn 1 of the afternoon milking.
At this stage of the investigation the farmer had, legally, a complete
answer to the case, but he agreed that some of his customers were not
receiving a good quality milk, as was their due.
There are many reasons to account for the production of low fat
content milk. The two reasons apparently obvious in this case were (1)
the breed of dairy cow and (2) the considerable length of time between
afternoon and morning milking. This farmer's herd is nearly 100 per
cent. Friesian, a breed common in the South of England, and known to
give milk high in quantity, but low in quality. The farmer milked at
about 3 p.m. each afternoon and at about 6 a.m. each morning, so that
consecutive intervals were nine hours and fifteen hours.
The farmer did not look favourably on the suggestion that he should
introduce into his herd Channel Islands cattle, which give a high
percentage of milk fat compared with Friesians. He agreed, however,
to lesson the period between afternoon and morning milking so far as
he was able with the labour available. The reduction in interval commenced
at once, but samples taken at milking times on the 20th April,
1948, and the 13th May, 1948, still showed the morning milk to be low in
fat content.
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