[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Cork County Borough.

  • Cork (Ireland). County Borough Council.
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Cork County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/180 (page 23)
    One of its immediate effects was the installation of a pasteurisation plant in the creamery, since when there has been no outbreak of the disease. Incidentally, it was a rather disturbing revelation of standards which permitted the feeding of separated milk to children instead of whole milk. This bad effect of bulking of milk is alluded to in the British Medical Journal’s comment on the Report already discussed. It refers to the annual report of the Medical Officer of Health of Manchester for 1948, in which it is pointed out that of ungraded milks 15 per cent, contained tubercle bacilli, while samples taken from the tanker lorries coming into the city were all unsatisfactory bacteriologically and 86 per cent, were found to contain tubercle bacilli. Once again this finding is not a condem- nation of pasteurisation since all these samples were taken from supplies on their way to the plant and before treatment. The relevance here arises from the fact that there is now in Cork (and presumably in other urban areas in this country) a good deal of bulking of milk. Every year more and more producers are going out of the retail distribution business and selling their milk to persons interested only in the retail end of the trade. In view of what has been said this tendency can only be viewed with the gravest misgivings. In effect it means a mixing of good and bad supplies and in such a case it is, unfortunately, the bad supply which determines the quality of the milk as it reaches the consumer. In my opinion it is this practice, more than the one daily delivery, which has caused the outcry about the quality of the milk. Many producers, un- fortunately, are simply not interested in clean milk production and are not provided with the necessary equipment and, when milk from such sources is bulked with good milk, the keeping quality of the latter is destroyed. Needless to say, the position is aggravated by keeping the evening supply overnight to mix with the morning’s milking. In the time at my disposal I can only refer very briefly to the proce- dure adopted in Northern Ireland to meet the problem. There they recognise four grades of milk which are designated simply A, B, C and I), and these categories are based on cleanliness. The first three grades re- quire licence for production, no licence is required for Grade D, but such milk is not permitted to be sold for human consumption. (It would correspond to the great bulk of milk supplied to our creameries). Grade A, naturally, is the highest standard and it is from cows which have been tuberculin-tested. In the case of Grades B and C, the cows must be clean and healthy, the byres and equipment must comply with certain standards and the milk must be cooled at the farm to not less than 60°F. The in- spection of herds, byres and equipment of A, B and C producers is carried out by whole-time veterinary officers of the Ministry of Agriculture. The price of milk is fixed by a Joint Milk Council, which has power to impose levies on producers. The maximum levy on Grades A and B is Id. per gallon and on Grade C, 3d. per gallon. In practice the levy on Grade A is 0.6d. per gallon, on Grade B, 0.75d., and on Grade C, 2.25d. The current prices chargeable for milk do not differ much in the three grades. They 7OIr« °VrVat 3/2(L. Per 8allon for Grade A> 3 /- per gallon for B, and 2 /10d. c*r |' ie Iefd difference in the return to the producer is represented bv the difference in the rate of levy, namely 2.25 (2Jd.) on Grade C and 0.75 (|d.) on Grade B. The distributor can purchase Grade B at practically * Recent letter from Mr. J. L. T. McAdam (Ministry of Agriculture—N.I.). Indicates a change in details. Premiums are now paid as follows Grade B .... .... Ikl. per gallon. _ i . , , ac*e ^, •; •••• •••• 3.65 pence per gallon, and system appears to have replaced the levies previously mentioned.