View report page

22
Cow Sheds, Inspection of Dairies and the Milk Jrade,
in connexion with Public Health.
There are in this Parish 14 Cow-sheds under inspection,
and about 170 cows for the supply of milk to
families. The keeping of cows in sheds in the built up
parts of London has undergone gradual improvements
every successive year that licenses have been granted
under 25 and 26 Vic., cap. 102. Many of these places
are still in objectionable situations in this and in other
Metropolitan Parishes. In our inspection nothing is done
authoritatively beyond attention to drainage, water
supply, and ventilation—that is, sufficient cubic space
for each cow. But in the production of such a delicate
article of food as milk, which is now well-known to
become infected, and to be a vehicle capable of conveying
disease, and is the cause of epidemics, an
inspection of the health of cows themselves, their mode
of feeding, and of the dairy where Milk is kept, is,
in my opinion, an essential part of Sanitary policy
protecting the interests of public health.
Those who have read my Quarterly Reports on
Food Adulteration, cannot fail to remark how much
the general quality of milk has improved in this Parish
since it has been subjected to the scrutiny of public
analysis; but there are yet further efforts needed to
bring up the Milk trade of the Metropolis to its
perfect status.
Milk Epidemics.
The Milk Epidemic in Marylebone last August,
extending into this and adjoining Parishes the outbreak
of Milk Typhoid in Islington and other towns,