View report page

82
The Ministry of Health in a Memorandum published
in 1931 give a statement of the present position
as to the number of cases of tuberculosis caused by
infection from cattle. The majority of cases of
tuberculosis are of course spread by human agency.
It seems probable, however, that more than 1,000
children under 15 years of age die annually in England
and Wales from bovine tuberculosis and in the great
majority of these cases the disease is caused by the
consumption of the milk of tuberculous cows.
Much valuable information is also given as to the
incidence of the bovine type of tuberculosis in cattle
and man. The proportion of cows yielding tuberculous
milk in this country is probably from one to
one-and-a-half per cent. Milk is however, mixed
before distribution to the public and from 5 to 1½ per
cent. of the milk samples examined have been found
to contain living tubercle bacilli. In other words more
than one out of every 20 samples examined are tubercular.
Parents are well advised not to give their children
raw cow's milk but to use pasteurised milk unless they
are using one of the other special milks such as "Certified"
and "Grade 'A' (Tuberculin Tested)" which
are produced, under a special licence, from healthy
tuberculin-tested cows. These two milks, however
are more expensive than pasteurised milk.
Pasteurisation (heating the milk to a tempearture
of 145º to 150º F. for 30 minutes and then immediately
cooling it to a temperature of not more than 55° F.) if
efficiently carried out kills not only tubercle bacilli but
other disease germs as well.
Milk sold as "Pasteurised" must, according to the
Milk (Special Designations) Order, 1923, comply with
certain specified bacterial tests, whereas ordinary milk
need not conform to these tests. Pasteurised milk is
very little, if at all, inferior in food value to milk which
has not been treated and is much safer. Even if one
does admit a slight loss of vitamin C and mineral