NEONATOLOGY ON THE WEB

The Nursling

Appendix IV

Municipal Council of Paris (1897) Milk Commission
(Synopsis of Report)

The following was adopted as the average composition of cows' milk per litre:--

Water		870 parts
Solids		130 parts, which comprise--
	Butter	40 parts
	Lactose	50 parts
	Salts, &c. Casein Extractives	40 parts

To determine the quality of milk consumed in Paris, samples were collected, haphazard and simultaneously, of that offered for sale in each of the twenty districts of the city on 1st June 1897. The following were the results of their analysis:--

Districts	Percentage of Butter	Percentage of Butter Removed	Percentage of Water Added
1st District	3.17	20.8	---
2nd District	2.16	43.2	4.0
3rd District	3.52	12.0	---
4th District	2.72	28.5	3.8
5th District	3.00	16.7	8.0
6th District	2.89	21.9	5.9
7th District	1.91	49.3	6.0
8th District	2.51	37.3	---
9th District	2.33	41.8	---
10th District	3.60	10.0	---
11th District	3.07	23.3	---
12th District	1.53	59.8	3.2
13th District	2.91	21.4	6.7
14th District	2.70	20.6	12.9
15th District	2.58	35.5	---
16th District	1.78	45.1	18.8
17th District	3.27	18.3	---
18th District	2.46	38.5	---
19th District	3.46	11.3	2.5
20th District	2.12	47.0	---
Average	2.68	30.1	---

This table is represented graphically elsewhere.

Six times only did the milk contain more than 30 grams of butter; fourteen times it had less than 30 grams; and some samples contained as little as 19, 17, and even 15 grams. All had been skimmed; some had also been watered.

Some cows yield milk which has more than 40 grams of butter per litre; others that which has less. But fat is not the only nutritive constituent of milk; the casein, lactose, and salts also contribute to its value as a food; so these milks, less rich in butter, may still have considerable nourishing power.

The Commission suggested that the standard for solids, other than butter, should be fixed at 90 grams per litre. Milk containing less than this amount has probably been watered.

The Commission proposed that all milks should be divided into three categories:--

1. Very Good -- that containing 40 grams of butter per litre.

2. Good -- that containing 35 to 40 grams.

3. Poor --- that containing from 30 to 35 grams.

Any liquid containing less than 30 grams of butter per litre should no longer be considered as milk, and its sale as such should constitute fraud.

Milk should be obtained only from healthy cows; it should be the product of the complete milking, and neither creamed nor watered.

All cows should be tested with tuberculin, and the milk of those only which have been proved healthy should be used unsterilised. A veterinary surgeon should inspect every cow at least once a month. Any cow recognised to be ill should be at once isolated, and its milk kept apart until the veterinary surgeon decides whether it is fit for human consumption or not.

Want of cleanliness in milking was said to be the great cause of impurity of milk. The precautions to be observed in byres and dairies were indicated.

No milk should be considered fit for human consumption which does not undergo without change:--

1. Heating for fifteen minutes at a temperature between 30° and 40° C.

2. Boiling for five minutes.

The commission said that no method of preservation of milk by chemical means was permissible. Pasteurisation and refrigeration were recommended as measures which retard the multiplication of organisms during the transport of milk. It was advised to boil or sterilise all milk before use.

To inculcate this principle into the rising generation M. Nocaud suggested that in every school the following notice should be prominently placed:--

"Do not drink unboiled milk and you will avoid many diseases.

"All milk which is to be kept more than twenty-four hours must be rendered absolutely sterile. This may be attained either by one prolonged heating at 110° C. or by discontinuous heating below this temperature.

"Milk intended for infants should be sterilised by heating to 100° C. for forty-five minutes, and distributed in small bottles, each containing only enough for one feed.

"To avoid fraud in transit from dairy to consumer milk should be conveyed in sealed vessels of varying capacity each absolutely full.

"Sterilised milk ought to be procurable, free of charge, by all necessitous nursing mothers from the public authorities, on producing a doctor's certificate stating that it is for the use of a child under two years of age. Poor invalids should enjoy the same privileges as infants, and those for whom sterilised milk is contra-indicated ought to be able to obtain pure fresh milk of good quality."

Paris consumes annually about 200 million litres of milk at a cost of 54 1/2 million francs, approximately. Farmers receive almost 28 million francs, and the remainder, 26 1/2 million francs, is expended in transport and in middlemen's charges.

The milk supply of Paris has three sources:--

1. The produce of cows kept in Paris.

2. The produce of cows kept in the vicinity of the capital.

3. That brought to Paris on the railways.

According to Vincey, these sources contributed the following proportions for the year 1895:--

Source	Number of Liters in	Percentage of Total Supply
Dairies in Paris	2,153,500	10
Dairies in the neighbourhood	5,322,890	25
More remote sources (by rail)	13,511,110	65
	20,987,500	100

Sixty-five per cent. therefore came by rail from places more or less distant from the capital.

"The transport of milk is thus a very important question. Waggons should be specially constructed so as to minimise shaking, which causes the butter to form in small masses. Speedy transit is essential."

The Commission also recommended the reduction of railway tariffs, the dating of all commercial sterilised milk, the foundation of a dairy school, and the creation of a central municipal depot for pasteurising and sterilising milk.