[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Counties of Perth & Kinross.

  • Perthshire (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Counties of Perth & Kinross. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Schools Most of the milk consumed in the schools in the County is pasteurised, but it will be seen from the table that approximately 12% of the samples taken were unsatisfactory. The unsatisfactory samples were traced in most cases to milk which had been handled by a middleman and not delivered direct from the dairy or pasteuriser to the school. This resulted in older and in some cases less satisfactory milk being delivered. Retailers It will be noted from the percentage sample failure rate for “Premium,” “Standard” and “Pasteurised” milks that the failure rate in retail premises is approximately 8% higher than that in the producers’ premises. This increase in failure rate is high but nevertheless not unexpected as sample failure rates increase with the age of milk unless it is transported and stored under ideal conditions. This high failure rate is best tackled at the production stage where it is becoming more and more evident that, if Producers wish to supply shops with, in particular, “Premium” milk, they must be prepared to work to a very high standard. If the milk starts life with a very low bacterial count and the temperature is very carefully controlled throughout the distribution stage it is quite possible for the retailer to have a good quality product on sale. If, on the other hand, there are faults in production, storage rotation stock or distribution, “Premium” milk is not a grade for the retail trade. It is, in fact, disturbing to note from our statistics that although customers pay more for “Premium” milk, which is reputedly of a very high grade, practically two out of every five containers that they purchase do not contain milk of the required standard. The large increase in the failure rate of retail samples as against producers’ samples is something which should not be ac- cepted but should be controlled by legislation. In the case of “Premium” milk it is evident that where a middleman is involved sample failures are very high. As the customer pays extra for this milk and expects something in return for this extra payment, the possibility of unsatisfactory milk reaching him could be reduced considerably by restricting the sale of “Premium” milk to producer/retailers only. As the quality of this milk is also directly related to the temperature at which the milk is kept, retailers should be required to take steps to ensure that the temperature of milk will not rise above 50°F until it is delivered to the customer, whether this be in a shop or from a van. Although “Pasteurised” milk can be described as a more robust grade and is certainly more suitable for the retail trade, it is still susceptible to careless production methods giving rise to post-pasteurisation contamination, to faulty distribution, to inadequate temperature control and to poor stock rotation. It gives rise for concern that nearly 19% of the samples of “Pasteurised” milk taken from our retailers were unsatisfactory. As “Pasteurised” and “Standard” milks are also greatly influenced by temperature, consideration should be given at the first oppprtunity to introduce legislation which will stipulate a maximum temperature at which these milks must be kept after production. Too often the care taken to produce a high quality milk is nullified by the milk being stored and displayed for sale on the counter or floor of a shop which, in the summertime may have a temperature in the 70°!>. Pasteurisers The two pasteurising plants in the County operated satisfactorily during the year and no phosphatase failures were recorded indicating that the milk had been properly pasteurised. Three of the samples taken at the pasteurisers premises were unsatisfactory due to the presence of coliform. It was later found that these failures were due to poor stock-rotation of the milk after it had been pasteurised. Vending Machines The number of vending machines in the Countyis declining. This is probably due to the difficulty that the licensees have in estimating the turnover for the machines and removing old stock before complaints arc received or unsatisfactory samples are taken.
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