Letters to the Editor
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often m9re read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space. They should be written clearly on one side of the paper only.]
A CLEANER MILK SUPPLY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sm,—The Ministry of Health's report for last year makes depressing reading for those who are concerned with the question of food adulteration. It shows how far we are from a solution of the problem. Penalties, apparently, are quite ineffective in stopping the abuse. Prominence has been given in most summaries of the Report to the question of milk, which has been figuring very largely of late in the Press. As I see it, it is nothing less than a public scandal that over 8 per cent. of the samples of milk tested—one in twelve, that is—should be either adulterated or not up to standard. For while pure milk is the most perfect food we know, tainted milk may be, and often is, a most virulent poison.
Two things are wanted. First, the powers which exist to prevent tuberculous milk from finding its way into the dairy must, as several of the speakers at the British Medical Associa- tion's recent Conference emphasized, be more strictly exercised. Secondly, the dairying trade must ensure that the milk when it arrives on the breakfast table is as pure as it was when it left the dairy. And the consumer must insist on them both.
A significant passage in the Report calls attention to the difficulty of cleaning bottles, many of which are used for purposes not intended by the bottler. This, it points out, is specially acute in the milk industry, where the cost of the bottle is probably as great as the cost of the milk itself, and where, it holds; it is not feasible to use only new bottles. I myself have examined the washing arrangements in many of our big dairies, and I gladly bear testimony to the thorough- ness with which it is carried out. At the same time, when thousands of bottles are being washed every day, if is impos- sible to guarantee that every single one is both dirt-free and gerni-free. And as long as the present system of returning empties ' continues, so long must we have criticism.
Happily, a new kind of container is now available, the use of which should avoid all possibility of contamination between the dairy and the consumer. It is made of specially prepared waxed paper, and is assembled, sterilized, filled, and hermeti- cally sealed in the dairy itself. As it has to be cut open to allow the milk to be poured out, it cannot be used more than once. I hope that in their own interests, as well as in the interests of the public, the dairying industry will give the new container a full trial. From what I have seen of it, it is a great advance on the existing methods of distribution. No doubt serious economic and commercial difficulties will have to be considered, but in the cause of public health these should be met and overcome.—I am, Sir, &c., 39 Bedford Square, London, W .C.1.
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