[Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

  • North Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    called at Northallerton, Guisborough and Scarborough respectively to discuss the best means of attaining the co-operation which appeared desirable and which the Ministers requested. Agreement was reached and there followed a short series of one-day refresher courses for sanitary officers held in the same three towns. Professor McGregor, Head of the Department of Agriculture in the University of Leeds, addressed each group on milk production from the point of view of the practical farmer and indicated that high standards of accommodation and cleanliness were desirable. Errors in the technique of milking, sources of contamination, the importance of a safe milk and the technique of the resazurin test were also covered by various speakers. At the end of the year under review the arrangements for co-ordi¬ nated action were being effectively carried out in the great majority of the sanitary districts so that little action was necessary on the receipt of a further Circular (2761, dated 9th February, 1942) : it is much regretted, therefore, that in June, 1943, these arrangements broke down when instructions were received by the War Agricultural Executive Committee from the Ministry of Agriculture that the results of the resazurin test at dairy laboratories were confidential and must not be communicated to local sanitary authorities. There is an urgent need for modernisation of the Milk and Dairies Order, 1926, to make it effective : the principal weaknesses of the present milk legislation are— (a) the absence of a legal standard of cleanliness for non-designated milk ; (b) the need for the same statutory provisions against interference with churns, etc., when transported by road as well as by rail ; (c) the failure to control effectively milk that has been heat treated because it need not legally be sold as “ pasteurised ” and accordingly the appropriate standards cannot be applied to it ; and (d) the inability of a local sanitary authority legally to refuse registration to a cowkeeper whose premises are unsuitable or whose water supply is inadequate. The more frequent contamination of milk by organisms capable of causing disease or of producing toxic substances has probably adversely affected or will affect the health of numerous members of the community. Time alone will tell whether the protagonists of the supply of adequate amounts of milk are right in their view that the gain in nutrition resulting from the greater consumption of proteins and minerals will counter-balance the tuberculosis, diarrhoeas, septic throats and undulant fever that some will acquire in its consumption. In my opinion the safety of milk supplied to the consumer is more important than the adequacy of the supply although I give full support to the raising of our nutritional standards. As regards the County Council’s particular functions under the Milk (Special Designations) Order, the work of supervision has proceeded as in former years, and all possible assistance has been given to milk producers both in the redesigning of premises and in the supervision of methods of production. At the end of 1942, 143 producers of tuberculin tested milk and 220 of accredited milk were licensed by the County Council: the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries issued 413 licences in respect of attested herds. (viii) Public Assistance. Owing to war-time restrictions on constructional work, few improve¬ ments to sick ward accommodation were possible during 1942, but the new nurses home adjoining the Guisborough Institution was completed and opened for use. The amenities of this hostel are up-to-date and should assist in maintaining an adequate staff for this “ up-graded ” institution. The control of the hutted hospital (built under H.M. Office of Works contracts) adjoining Northallerton Institution passed from the County