[Report 1908] / Medical Officer of Health, Hessle U.D.C.

  • Hessle (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1908] / Medical Officer of Health, Hessle U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/34 (page 10)
    lo “ Hessle, October 22nd, 1908. To the Hessle Sanitary Committee. Gentlemen, Since our last Meeting 1 have made far reaching enquires into the character of the milk obtained from the Hessle dairies. I find consumers generally complain that it is of poor quality, and yields very little cream. By the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, of 1875, a local authority has power to appoint an officer to take samples of food and drugs. Parliament finding that local authorities generally did not exercise the powers conferred upon them by the various Acts, granted powers to the County Council to take samples, and if found necessary, to institute proceedings. This Council has since left these powers to be administered entirely by the County Council. A few }ears ago the Board of Agriculture fixed a standard for milk, which it stated should at least contain eleven and a half per cent of solids, three per cent of which should be fat; this fat is a very essential constituent of new milk, especially in relation to the feeding of infants. Cows milk is found to be too rich in caseine and too deficient in fat for an infant. To prepare milk for a young child the cream of half-a pint of milk should be added to half-a-pint of new milk, thus making the quantity of fat six per cent. This is then diluted with water according to the age of the infant. It is obvious that if the milk is very deficient in fat, the desired result could not be obtained, and the health of the child would suffer. , Milk deficient in fat is not of serious consequence to the adult from a health point of view, but the purchaser is not getting what he iias a right to expect. Under existing conditions, I think the time has arrived when it would be to the advantage of the public, that the Hessle Council should take the milk supply and the enforcement of the Food and Drugs Acts into their own hands. I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, JAMES MOLINEUX, M.D.”