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66
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD
(A) MILK
Production
There are five farms in the district producing milk. Store cattle art
kept at two farms. Four out of the five farms produce tuberculin-tested
milk; the milk from the other farm is sent to a wholesaler for processing.
Distribution and Licensing
Milk is pasteurised at two dairies in the district; the plants are
licensed by the Middlesex County Council.
The responsibility for the licensing of premises from which milk is
retailed up till recently lay with the Borough Council. The County Council
now issues these licences.
Supervision
During the year forty-one visits were made by the Public Health
Inspectors to dairies and cow sheds in the district.
Sampling
Twenty-four samples of milk were taken and submitted to the
Colindale Laboratory for analysis. Ten were pasteurised, nine T.T.
pasteurised, three T.T. farm bottled, and two sterilised; all were satisfactory.
This sampling is independent of that carried out by the County
Council.
Complaints
During the year twenty-five complaints were received about milk
bottles. Twelve were about the dirty or damaged state of the bottles, the
other thirteen about the presence of other foreign matter.
Milk and Infection
With the virtual elimination of the tubercle bacillus from milk, the
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries has now turned its attention
to brucellosis, another very common infection of milk, which can cause
trouble in man. Towards the end of 1960 they started a survey into the
incidence of this infection in dairy herds. It is likely a free scheme of
vaccination of calves will be introduced.