[Reports and Appendices] of the Irish Milk Commission, 1911.

  • Great Britain. [Royal] Commission on the Irish Milk Supply.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: [Reports and Appendices] of the Irish Milk Commission, 1911. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    814/1108 (page 4)
    Wilsou, 2516. Gordon, 5527. Sir C. Cameron, 324. Prof. Thompson, 1700-1, 1723. Prof. Thompson, 1721. Webb, 4116-7. Burke, 14095-8. McCarthy, 14294. Finnegan, 14561-9. Dr. O'Meara, 14121-80. Delepine, 31742-6. MeWeeney, 441-457, 490-6. Dr. O'Meara, 14163-4. Dr. ]\Iagner, 1.3614-6. Cotter, 1.3766-73. Delepine, 31749. Recommendation. Trimble, 9511-32. Mrs. O'Brien, 15783-45. Sefarated Milk. (9) For those unable to aford fresh milk, an alternative is the purchase of separated milk. It has the superlative merit of cheapness. It contains all the elements of whole milk except the fats, as will be seen from the following figures : Percentage Composition of Milk. Separated Milk. Fat—3 to 4-5 per cent. '1 per cent. Proteids—3 to 3 5 per cent. 3-1 to 3-6 per cent. Sugar—4 to 5 per cent. 4-1 to 5-2 per cent. Mineral matter—75 per cent. 78 per cent. The value of separated milk compared with whole milk is put by Sir Charles Cameron, Analyst for several counties in Ireland, roughly at as 1 is to 2. Dr. Thompson, Professor of Physiology in the University of Dublin, part of whose work is to teach the value of foodstuffs, considers that separated milk is an article which could be made a useful food for adults. It is unnecessary to say that the use of separated milk is not recommended to those who can afford to buy whole milk. Also it must be distinctly understood that separated milk is not a suitable food for infants, because in the feeding of infants the milk fats are essential elements; but for adults and children over three or four years of age, who are able to obtain fats in other articles of diet, separated milk is both a nutritive and economical article of food. Unfortunately there is a popular prejudice against the use of it. It is alleged that it is unpalatable ; that it is all right when it is fresh, but that after a couple of hours it has a vile, sour, venomous taste. A medical witness who spoke highly of the nutritive value of separated milk and deplored its disuse by the peasantry, and who cannot therefore be considered an unreasoning hostile critic of separated milk, corroborated and explained the general dislike of it. Milk, he said, separated by hand separators is unexceptionable; but that returned by the creameries in his district is unusable for food, owing to the objectionable greasy flavour it acquires and subsequently to the bad smell arising from it. The popular prejudice, so far as it is well founded, is due to the changes which occur in the character of the milk consequent on the conditions under which the separation of the cream takes place. In order to secure an effective separation, the milk is heated to a temperature of 140 or more degrees Fahrenheit, which has the effect of changing the normal bacterial content and in consequence favouring putrefactive changes, which pro- duce the disagreeable flavours referred to. This is a real danger operating against the use of separated milk. Prejudice once created against creamery separated milk extends to all separated milk, even to that produced from hand separators. If, therefore, separated milk is to become an article of food in town and country, it must be produced under proper conditions, namely, the milk after being heated for the extraction of its fats should be cooled down to a low temperature; be kept at a low temperature during its carriage to the consumer, .and afterwards be stored in a cool place in the house. It has been suggested that after the separated milk has been heated and cooled, a further safeguard would be the introduction of cultures of the lactic acid bacilli so as to bring about the natural souring of the milk. This is a question which we think is worthy of consideration and might well be made the subject of investigation. (10) Finally there remains the residuum of the town population which is not able to. buy even separated milk. For them there are in existence various charitable agencies, whose aim is more particularly to give assistance to necessitous mothers during their time of special need. Such is the work done by the Babies' Clubs established by the Women's National Health Association; by the Belfast Municipal Milk Fund, of which Dr. Trimble gave evidence, and in Limerick is part of the charitable work accomplished through the instrumentality of Mrs. O'Brien of Southhill. Milk Depots for Infants. (11) This brings us to the consideration of the policy of cheapening milk (advocated bv some witnesses and opposed by others) by the establishment of State- or Rate-aided milk depots. We shall discuss the larger question of subsidising the milk supply for adults when we deal with the difficulty of obtaining milk in small