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caking on the inside wall of the bottle. This in most cases is the result
not of any mis-use of the bottle but from the failure of the householder
to rinse it.
The following is a summary of an investigation into the hygienic
conditions of milk bottles which had at one time been mis-used:—
(1) Twelve experiments in six dairies in various parts of England have
shown that, when foreign matter in a milk bottle is impervious, the normal
washing process delivers the "dirty bottle" in an excellent hygienic condition,
with a low colony count and absence of coli and milk-souring
organisms. (2) When the foreign matter is pervious, a high colony count
is often obtained. However, the absence of coli in these bottles suggests
that even these are hardly likely to be a danger to public health. (3) All
such types of dirty bottles arise from deliberate misuse by members of
the public, or at least failure to return and consequent neglect. (4) In
spite of all efforts by dairy firms a misused bottle occasionally escapes
detection. It is probable that as long as glass bottles are used, the occasional
dirty bottle will get through on rare occasions. (5) Present legislation
bears harshly on dairies but ignores the real culprit. More positive
measures should be adopted to prevent the misuse of milk bottles.
The practice of stacking crates of empty milk bottles on the public
highway is diminishing. Where it persists, it is largely due to the failure
of householders, particularly on Sundays, to put out the empty bottles
for collection so that the large number to be collected on Monday is
more than can be dealt with on that day.
Milk and Tuberculosis
The virtual eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis in this country is a
measure of public health importance which seems to have been brought
about unnoticed by many. In the earlier decades of this century the
incidence of tuberculosis in cattle was high, probably up to 20 per cent of
all cattle and even 40 per cent of adult cattle. With an incidence of this
magnitude, the problem was not only how to bring about a reduction,
but how to do so without impairing the milk supply of the country.
An early public health measure, the Tuberculosis Order, aimed at
the slaughter of open cases. Although large numbers of cattle were
slaughtered, some 23,000 in 1936, this measure had little effect on controlling
the spread because so often infection had already spread to other
animals before the case was detected. A different line of approach was
introduced by the Milk Act, 1934, aiming at the building-up of attested
herds. These were herds which were already free from tuberculosis or had
been made free by the tuberculin-testing of the members of the herd
and disposal of the reactors. The scheme was given an added incentive
under the Agriculture Act of 1937 which authorised the declaration of
eradication areas. In addition to the bonus for each gallon of milk produced
under this scheme, a capitation bonus was available to herds
other than those producing milk. Financial assistance was also given
for the tuberculin testing of the herds. Progress was hampered during the
war but in 1944 the Attested Herds Scheme was re-opened. It now
became much more popular, and with the steady rise in the number of