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42
Samples of milk have been regularly procured and
analyzed during the past year. The number of samples has
exceeded that of any other article, because milk is more
largely used and more easily adulterated than any other; it
is used daily in every house and every tenement in the parish,
it is almost the only food of the young, it is the principal
food in sickness, and in the diet of persons of all ages it is
one of the most nutritious elements. By ordering prosecutions
in this article of food your Sanitary Committee have
been successful in obtaining a supply of pure milk for the
inhabitants of Lambeth. Three years ago 20 per cent. of
the samples obtained for examination were adulterated, at
the present time only about 5 per cent. show an addition of
added water. It has been said that the quality of the milk
may depend upon the health of the cow or upon the inferiority
of its provender, and that the analyst is unable to detect
the difference between poor and watered milk. To a certain
extent this is true, but I maintain that the buyer is entitled
to have milk which is up to the standard in solids, and that
if occasionally your Committee have prosecuted in a case
where the milk was poor but not watered, not much harm
has been done, for the cowkeeper will have learned that it is
prejudicial to his interests to feed his cows badly or to keep
sick cows. However, I do not think that a prosecution has
been taken out under such circumstances. An allowance is
made by your Analyst for the possible dependence of the
quality of the milk upon that contingency, and your
Committee have not ordered a prosecution unless the excess
of water has been over 10 per cent.
During the year samples of alcoholic drinks were obtained
upon three occasions:
April 13.—Gin and rum.
Oct. 21.—Gin, Irish whisky and Scotch whisky.
Oct. 29.—Gin, rum, Irish and Scotch whisky and brandy