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21
It seems extraordinary that the defunct Ministry of Food had greater powers
in dealing with the sale of milk than the Borough Councils, Ministry of Health or
the Board of Agriculture, but that the Ministry of Food did not exercise its powers
may be gathered from the following incident.—A dairyman was cautioned twelve
times and prosecuted fifteen times for selling adulterated milk, one sample containing
23 per cent, of added water. The summonses were dismissed on four occasions,
the warranty defence being successful. In 1919, he was prosecuted on two occasions
for selling milk containing 35 and 56 grains respectively of boracic acid per gallon.
On the latter occasion he was fined £50 and costs. In June, 1920, he was fined £100
for selling milk containing 35 grains of boracic acid per gallon of milk, although all
milks are examined for preservatives, this dairyman's milk was the only milk in
which we have found boracic acid since its addition to milk has been made illegal.
The amount found in June was exactly the same as on the first occasion in 1919,
although the wholesale firm that supplied him was different.
The Local Food Committee and the Public Health Committee were unanimous
in recommending the Ministry of Food (the only authority that could do so) to
remove his name from the list of registered purveyors of milk, but no action was
taken beyond acknowledging the receipt of the resolutions.
The condition of the milk supply cannot therefore be regarded as satisfactory
from the adulteration point of view, but with regard to its purity, the conditions
are very much worse. On the suggestion of the Ministry of Health and with the
approval of the Committee I arranged for the bacteriological examination of milk
for tubercle bacilli. Milk was taken from 14 cowsheds in the borough, 11 milkshops,
and 5 general or provision shops. Milk is actually sold in most of the cowsheds in
our district, a custom to be deplored, although it is difficult to be done away with,
as on certain Jewish festivals milk has to be drawn directly from the cow into the
customer's jug.
In one sample only—taken from a general shop—were tubercle bacilli found.
Dr. Panton reported,—
" The samples were labelled 1—30, and were all examined by film preparation
for tubercle bacilli, and by guinea pig inoculation.
"The guinea pigs inoculated with the first six samples were injected intraperitoncally
with the centrifuged deposit of the milk. No tuberculosis was produced,
but owing to the extremely toxic character of the milk it was necessary to inject
the remaining guinea pigs intramuscularly, and it was further deemed advisable
to make some examination of the bacteriological contents of the milk for other than
tubercle bacilli.