[Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Birkenhead County Borough.
- Birkenhead (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1952
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Birkenhead County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
58/96 page 50
![MILK SUPPLY The handling and distribution of milk in Birkenhead has once again been carried out in a very satisfactory manner from the Public Health point of view. The bottling of milk b}^ retailers has decreased still further during the year and jjractically the whole of the milk is now received by the retailers already bottled. The main supplies are from two Processing ])lants within the }k)rough and four large processing plants situ.ated outside the town. In all tliese cases the milk is bottled and sealed with overlapping metal caps and is either Tuberculin Tested or heat-treated inilk. The very small quantity which is bottled by the indi\idual retailers is however graded milk and it is ])leasing to re])ort tliat there is now no ungraded milk being retailed within the Borough. The number of Kegistered Daii-ymen and Licences issued under the Milk (Special Designations) liegulations are set out below: — No. of Registered Dairymen 154 Dealers licences to sell “ Pasteurised-’ .Milk lOb Dealers licences to sell “Tuberculin Tested” MWk 87 Dealers licences to sell “Sterilised” IMilk 88 Dealers licences to sell “Accredited” Milk' d Licences to Pasteurise Milk 2 It follows from the foregoing that in addition to being registered to carry on his trade every dairyman must obtain one, two or in some cases three annual licences to sell s])ecific trades of milk. One may be for- given for wondering whether this multiplicity of licences with its at- tendant form tilling and recording is really necessary in a borough such as Birkenhead. A total of 230 visits were paid to Dairies and Dairymen's premises during the year. The local authority is now no longer responsible for the supervision of the farms producing milk within the l^orough but the Medical OPfic'er of Health has power to deal with any milk produced or sold in the town if he has reasonable grounds for suspecting that its consumption would endanger the public health.- In such cases the Medical Officer of Health can insist that the suspected milk be fieat treated before sale. In this connection it is interesting to note that with one excep- tion the milk produced on farms within the Borough is in any event all sent to one or other of the AVholesale Processing Dairies where it is lieat treated as a matter of routine. The one exception is a graded milk and regular samples have shown it to be free from Tubercle bacilli. From time to time, however, farms outside the district are found to be producing tuberculous milk and the Medical Officer of Health of the area concerned exercises his powers to insist on heat treatment. In the absence of suitable plant in the particular producer’s districts, the Ministry, in certain cases, diverts this milk to one or other of the wholesale dairies in Birkenhead, where it can be adequately dealt with. As such tuberculous milk is mixed with large quantities of satis- f,acto]-v milk at the Processing Plant, it is obvious that the efficiency of these heat treatment plants is of ever increasing importance.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28927461_0060.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
