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INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD
Milk.
There is one cowkeeper on the register as a producer of accredited milk.
During the year one purveyor of milk was added to the register. At the
end of the year there were 41 purveyors of milk on the register. This number
includes 15 who were registered with respect to premises occupied for other
purposes for them to retail milk in sealed receptacles only.
Under the Milk (Special Designations) Order, 1936, 35 licences were
granted during the year, 14 for the sale of Tuberculin Tested Milk and the sale
of accredited milk, 18 for the sale of Pasteurised Milk, and 2 for Pasteurisation.
Control.
Samples of milk, designated and undesignated, are examined for bacterial
count. These examinations are performed at the National Institutefor Research
in Dairying, at Reading. Immediately after the samples are taken they are
sent by train to the Institute and they are nearly always examined between
four and six hours after being taken.
It is difficult to compare any two samples unless they are taken and
examined under exactly the same conditions, and normally the general bacterial
count is much higher in the summer than in the winter, and is much higher the
longer the time that has elapsed since milking. A large count of general bacteria,
together with the presence of b. colt in 0.1 c.c. or smaller numbers of bacteria
together with b. coli in 0.01 c.c., is usually taken as an indication that the milk
is unsatisfactory. In these cases the attention of the vendors is drawn to the
fact, and advice is given to them in order to help them exercise more care in
the handling of the milk and utensils.
On the whole a bacterial count is a very good indication of general
cleanliness, especially if the same laboratory is used and regular samples are
taken.
During the year 132 samples were taken in this way and it was considered
that of these samples 18 were unsatisfactory. A rather more stringent method
of bacteriological examination is made than has been standardised by the
Ministry of Health, and therefore inquiries and advice are given to the retailers
rather than that proceedings should be taken against them in Court. In case
of grossly unsatisfactory results, however, this latter alternative would be used.
A new test for the efficiency of the pasteurising process has recently been
evolved. This is called the phosphatase test and depends on the principle that
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