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Milk and Dairies (Consolidation) Act, 1915.
Milk and Dairies Order, 1926.
Milk (Special Designations) Order, 1923.
Tuberculosis Order of 1925.
REPORT OF VETERINARY OFFICER.
The cattle and cowsheds in the Borough are regularly submitted
to periodical examinations, in addition to which special
examinations are made as occasion may demand. The methods of
milk production are also supervised and endeavours made to
improve the general hygienic conditions.
The several delayed provisions of the Milk and Dairies Order
have now come into operation and if the Order were strictly
enforced throughout the country, including quarterly examinations
of cattle as the Order permits, then all milk should approximate
to the standard as laid down for Grade "A" milk. The present
standard for graded milks is too lenient, and in this connection
it is of interest to note that in the United States of America the
bacterial standard for Certified milk is no less than three times
more severe than the standard for Certified milk—the highest
grade under the Milk (Special Designations) Order.
The question of graded milks is at present much in evidence
in veterinary and trade circles, criticism being mainly directed
against the nomenclature used, it being pointed out that, whereas
Grade "A" milk is commonly thought bv the public to be the
highest grade, it is in fact, the lowest grade of raw milk. I am
of the opinion that the grades of milk should be limited to two
raw and one pasteurised and suggest the following to be suitable
designations from the consumers' point of view:—
Tubercule free milk, (i.e., from tuberculin tested herds—
whether bottled on or off the farm).
Clean Milk (i.e., that now known as Grade "A").
Pasteurised milk.
During the year under review eight hundred and seventy
examinations of cattle were made and where the existence of
disease likely to affect the milk supply was observed, the offending
animals were isolated and the milk discarded.
Samples of milk were taken in suspected cases direct from
the cow, submitted to microscopical, and where necessary,
biological examinations, and as a result, four cows were found to
be affected with tuberculosis of the udder or to be giving tubercule
infected milk and were slaughtered.
Samples of sputum etc., were also obtained in cases where
it appeared desirable and this procedure led to the detection of
two cases of tuberculosis of the lungs. One such animal was a