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7
DAIRY FARMS.
The Dairy Farmers are carrying out (with more or less
alacrity) the requirements of the Council. When they have all
done so these places will be worthy of the confidence of the
inhabitants. Your officials do all they can by periodical and
unexpected visits to insure that the standard of sanitation is
maintained.
At the same time I ask the aid of the consumers of milk in our
work. By their visiting the Cowsheds and Dairies from whence
they receive their milk supply, they will encourage those who are
keeping them in order, and exert a beneficial influence on those
who are not. A milking cow should be kept as clean as a wellgroomed
horse. When this is not done the milk is contaminated,
and frequently there is even found a black sediment at the bottom
of the vessels in which the milk is allowed to stand. The hands
of the milkers should be scrupulously clean, and abundant provision
should be made for washing them. The milk cans should
be boiled in a copper each time before they are used. The yards,
cowsheds, dairies, &c., should be kept scrupulously clean. When
all these requirements have been complied with, it will still be
advisable that all milk should be scalded—that is raised to
temperature of boiling point, or 212° Fahrenheit in order to destroy
all microbes.
MILK FROM OUTSIDE THE DISTRICT.
A large portion of the milk consumed in Harrow is brought
from outside.
The communication recently sent by the Council to the
neighbouring Authorities will doubtless lead to a stricter supervision
being exercised over the Dairy Farms of the County. There
is, however, a considerable part of the supply, which comes
through contractors who receive it from distant places, some as
far off as Derbyshire and the Continent. When such milk is offered
for sale in the town, it should be guaranteed by a certificate from
the Medical Officer for the district from whence it is derived.
The absence of this precaution may lead to outbreaks of infectious