HEALTH

NEW HAVEN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Vol. XXXVI, No. 1	January, 1919

This article excerpted from p. 3 of the issue.

In the pasteurization of milk, the milk plant owners should of course have but one point of view and that would be the health viewpoint, as the process of pasteurization was first studied and later recommended as a health conservation factor.

As generally practiced, however, we find that the viewpoint has given way to others which, from a strictly business standpoint, are necessary. Owners of milk plants have seized on several important facts, advocated by health officials, relative to the safety from disease germs when milk is properly pasteurized and have exploited these facts by advertising to the public that their milk has received the process and is therefore safe.

A second reason and sometimes, as we are loath to say, the most important one from the dealer's point of view is the fact that by heating the milk to, at, or near the proper pasteurizing temperature, the bacteria which produce natural souring are nearly all killed. This renders the milk practically free from this type and therefore the natural souring is greatly delayed and the sweet condition retained. As a strictly commercial proposition, this is of great value because it enables a milk dealer to secure milk from various sources under different conditions as to temperature and age and to prolong the salable life of that product. Where formerly great losses occurred, because of the natural souring of raw milk, we now find many dealers congratulating themselves on the fact that the same supply goes through their pasteurizing plant and is delivered without any loss because of sour milk.

We find then that of the two points of view relative to pasteurization in any community, the most interesting to the dealer himself is not the health conservation or safe milk factors, but usually whether the milk from his various sources of supply can be made salable and for how long it will so remain.

Pasteurization of milk was intended to throw an additional safeguard over an already practically safe supply and in order to accomplish its object the rules of heating and cooling must be adhered to strictly and the raw milk supply should be as safe as a raw supply can possibly be.

But as practiced today in a very large percentage of our communities, do we find the presence of conditions that even approach the standard with which the process should be associated? The answer is self apparent to those who have had the opportunity of observing the procedure as generally practiced and for public information it should be noted that the term "pasteurized milk" as generally used by milk dealers does not mean much else than a mere trade term, applied to milk which has been subjected to some heating process.

A discussion of the many and varied attempts by dealers to attain a high standard by using so-called "holding" or "flash" pasteurizing processes with a varied source and condition of their raw supply is not the purpose of this paper. It must be admitted, though, that many attempts which have been made to reach a high standard by installing and using elaborate and expensive equipment have resulted in failure, because of the personnel of the outfit. Examples of inexperienced operators, whose knowledge of what is desired of the process and how best to secure the desired results, can be found in any community where pasteurization is attempted.

From this we must conclude that while the process itself may be desirable under certain ideal conditions, the application of the process commercially carries with it certain problems that are difficult to overcome.

Much credit must be given to any concern who seeks the high standard and ideal towards which we all wish to advance in regard to our milk supply and especially to any concern which considers the question of a proper pasteurization and subsequent handling of that supply, from a health point of view rather than from a commercial point of view which is so prevalent.

To this extent we have found the commercial side of the question far in advance of health departments in advertising pasteurized milk to the public.

The general public has seen different terms used to designate various pasteurization methods. Examples of these terms are "Flash System", "Holding System", "In the Bottle", and systems designated by the name of the apparatus used. Aside from the so-called "flash system", the other systems are modifications of the "Holding System". The public has also become accustomed to the terms "Commercially Pasteurized", "Properly Pasteurized", "Perfectly Pasteurized", and "Home Pasteurization". With this confusion of terms in use and the dealers' desire of increasing their sales by advertising the machinery and the process used, as well as the product itself, it is high time that the situation becomes simplified for the proper enlightenment of the public and the future of the milk business.

It therefore becomes necessary for health officials to consider the efficiency of the various pasteurizing processes and the safeness of the so-called pasteurized product, because of the fact that such a product is vastly changed from its original condition and contamination subsequent to pasteurization introduces an uncertain element which may vitally concern health conservation.

It therefore behooves health departments in general to consider with dispatch the regulation of pasteurizing plants, the medical inspection of employees having to do with the handling of the milk, and the issuing of permits to dispose of pasteurized milk to the public.

Pasteurization was originally suggested and studied as a public health safeguard and only as such should it be allowed. No better person than the community health officer should approve the process and issue permits allowing the use of the term "pasteurized milk'. He is responsible for the health of his community and he should have control of every factor which may influence the health of that community.

Such a control by permit is logical, in that it protects a well meaning dealer against those who can see none but the commercial side of the question, and by controlling the entire pasteurization process and its subsequent influencing agencies, he is performing a vital duty to his community.

The advantages of pasteurized milk for a community are reduced in proportion to the attention given to the adequate laboratory control and the supervision of the process of pasteurizing and the subsequent handling and delivery of the milk. Unless such control and supervision is at all times present, there is no logical reason for allowing the term "pasteurized" to be used.

Paper read before the employees of the New Haven Department of Health.