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The following chart shows the various stages during milk production and supply where
control and vigilance is required and the part played by the Public Health Inspector is subsequently
outlined.
Dairy Farm
Distribution by Farmer
(producer/retailer)
Processing Plant
Distribution Depot
Retail Round Shop Sales Vending Machine Sales Catering Sales
Dairy Farms
There are 15 dairy farms within the Borough and milk from these is, with one exception,
sent for processing. Untreated milk, that is milk which has not been subjected to heat treatment,
is supplied from one farm being the supply of milk to members of the Jewish faith. Untreated milk
from a farm outside the Borough is also retailed.
Hygiene on the farm is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food
who grant producers licences.
Standards of composition are laid down by the Food and Drugs Act, 1955 which legislation
is enforced by the Borough Council as Food and Drugs Authority through its Public Health
Inspectors. Samples are taken regularly from dairy farms and examined for milk fat and non-fat
solids, these tests being carried out in the Department's own laboratory. Examinations are also
carried out for the presence of antibiotics (TTC test) and Brucella abortus, both these tests being
carried out by the Public Health Laboratory service. The presence of antibiotics in milk may
arise through veterinary use of an antibiotic and its presence in milk is both undesirable and a
contravention of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955. Brucella abortus in addition to causing disease
in cattle also causes Brucellosis in man. It is destroyed by heat treatment, and the chief danger
lies in the consumption of untreated milk either through milk supplied in accordance with the
designation untreated or through milk consumed by farm workers and their families from a supply
prior to pasteurisation. In testing for Brucella abortus the milk ring test is applied as a screening
test. Positive results are checked by guinea pig inoculation. If a positive reaction is obtained to
this test the farmer is advised accordingly and the affected cows are invariably removed from
the herd. The Agriculture Act, 1970 made it an offence for any person to sell, except for slaughter,
an animal known to him to be a reactor to Brucella abortus.

The positive result from guinea-pig inoculation was from milk used to produce untreated
cream, and although the remainder of the milk was being sent for pasteurisation it was necessary
to require, by Notice, that the farmer discontinue the use of raw milk in accordance with the
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