MILK : BUT WHAT MILK ?
[To the Editor of Tin: Ser.crstoill SIR,—The article, " Milk : But What Milk," by Professor G. S. Wilson, in your issue of October 30th, confirmed my fears as to the deplorable position. with regard to the safe- guarding of milk in this country—a question which has been brought into -prominence lately, as a result of the outbreak of typhoid in the Bournemouth area, attributable to raw milk, in the view of the Ministry of Health.
Professor Wilson talks of ordinary ungraded milk, whose quality is unknown, and which " in many of our provincial towns and in most of our rural areas constitutes the great bulk of the milk sold." This is a sufficiently disturbing fact : but more disturbing still is the statement by the Chairman and Managing Director of United Dairies, Ltd., Mr. Joseph Maggs,
in his speech at the general meeting on October :80th, that the purity of the milk supply is still dependent on the voluntary action of distributors and not upon legal restrictions and requirements." Later he said : " The relatives and friends of those who suffered in the latest epidemic are asking why all milk is not pasteurised. One answer is there is no law to require it. The Minister of Health has no power to compel it ; the Medical Officer of Health cannot demand it—not, at least, until after an outbreak has occurred and the mischief done." • - It is usually argued by opponents of pasteurisation, while admitting it to be the only safeguard besides certified milk, that this process severely affects the nutritive value of milk. On the contrary, it is now the prevalent opinion of experts that its effects are only slight, if at all, upon milk. In any case, surely a slight diminution of the nutritive value of milk is preferable to the disastrous possibilities of the alternative.
I therefore beg the courtesy of your columns to urge that legislation should be introduced in Parliament to make pas- teurisation compulsory, and that until this has been accom- plished, every individual in this country should insist upon pasteurised or certified milk.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant, H. W. F. R. Ricaorrs. Sarile House, Mansfield Road, Orford.
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