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Inspection and Supervision of Food.
Milk Supply.— No registration of retailers or producers has
had to be refused under the provisions of the Milk and Dairies
(Amendment) Act, 1922 (Milk and Dairies Order, 1926).
Seven additional retailers were registered during the year
under this Act.
Under the Milk (Special Designations) Order, 1923, 7 Dealers'
Licences to sell Certified Milk, 17 to sell Pasteurised Milk, 6 to
sell Grade A (Tuberculin Tested) Milk, 4 to sell Grade A Pasteurised
Milk and 1 to sell Grade A Milk were granted during the year.
One Pasteuriser's licence in respect of a pasteurising and
bottling establishment was granted.
Five supplementary licences for Certified Milk, 7 for Grade A
(Tuberculin Tested) Milk, 10 for Pasteurised Milk, 4 for Grade A
Pasteurised Milk, and 2 for Accredited Milk were granted during
the year.
No milk, other than that contained in sealed bottles, is retailed
from any general shop in the district.
With certain minor exceptions, the standard of milk
sold within the Borough is satisfactory. There is evidence to
show that improvement is still taking place, and, although it has
just been stated that the standard is satisfactory, there is still
room for such improvement. Perfection is impossible at the present
moment, but any standard which shows considerable deviation from
the optimum should be considered highly undesirable.
The fact that six Southgate residents contracted typhoid fever
during the year following the consumption of raw, unpasteurised
milk at one or other of three seaside resorts, points to the vital
necessity of safeguarding the nation's milk supplies, a subject which
the Public Health Committee has had under consideration upon
several occasions. Until the country's supplies are rendered safe,
the danger will exist, and at any time and at any place where raw
milk is consumed in bulk a repetition of the recent epidemic may
occur. It should also be noted that this applies equally to the
possibility of sporadic oases of tuberculous infection occurring from
the same source. Several Corporations are considering the
advisability of seeking powers to make the pasteurisation of all milk
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