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21
Milk Supply.
On the 1st October, 1949, the following Acts and Regulations
relating to milk came into force.
(1) Food and Drugs (Milk and Dairies) Act, 1944.
(2) Milk (Special Designations) Act, 1949.
(3) Milk (Special Designations) (Raw Milk) Regulations,
1949.
(4) Milk (Special Designations) (Pasteurised and Sterilised
Milk) Regulations, 1949.
(5) The Milk and Dairies Regulations, 1949.
Briefly, the e feet of this new legislation was to place the
responsibility for the supervision of milk production at the dairy
farm directly on the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Local
Authorities and Food and Drugs Authorities are now in no way
concerned with milk production and are not required to keep
registers of dairy farms or dairy farmers. The Middlesex County
Council as the Food and Drugs Authority are now the licensing
Authority for Pasteurising and Sterilising establishments, but the
Ealing Borough Council are still required to register the premises
and enforce the operation of the Milk and Dairies Regulations as
to the buildings, infection and contamination of milk, cleaning and
storage of vessels, conveyance and distribution of milk. It is also
the duty of the Ealing Borough Council to register dairymen as
distributors of milk.
Under the Milk (Special Designation) (Pasteurised and Sterilised
Milk) Regulations, 1949, "Sterilised" Milk became a special
designation and dairymen wishing to sell "sterilised" milk required
a licence to do so from the Ealing Borough Council.
At the commencement of the year, there were 76 purveyors
of milk on the register and under the Milk (Special Designations)
Regulations, 1936 to 1946, 66 licences were granted, 20 for the
sale of Tuberculin Tested Milk, and 46 for Pasteurised Milk.
As a result of the new legislation the following additional
licences were issued towards the end of the year :
Tuberculin Tested Milk 4
Pasteurised Milk 4
Sterilised Milk 43
The number of dairymen registered as distributors of milk
remained at 76.
80 samples of pasteurised or heat treated milk were taken
and submitted to the Pathological Laboratory for the methylene
blue and phosphatase tests. Six samples failed the methylene
blue test and three the phosphatase test. These were all processed
in other Boroughs. The Local Authorities concerned were communicated
with and appropriate action taken. Subsequent samples
from the retailers concerned were satisfactory.