FOOD AND DRUGS

Abstract

Report of Committee on Uniform Standard Milk Ordinance, Conference of State and Territorial Health Officers, 1926-A committee of 4 members, appointed by the 1925 Conference of State and Territorial Health Officers, was instructed to make a careful study of the so-called standard milk ordinance of the United States Public Health Service and submit a* report to the 1926 conference. The committee report comments on the advocacy of the so-called standard milk ordinance by the Public Health Service and is in accord with the general conclusions reached by Leslie C. Frank, Sanitary Engineer of the United States Public Health Service, in his paper presented at the American Health Congress at Atlantic City. The committee recommends, among other requirements, a provision in the standard milk ordinance for four grades of milk-Grade A pasteurized, Grade B pasteurized, Grade C pasteurized, and Grade A raw milk. The committee made inquiries of each of the 10 states in which the so-called standard milk ordinance has already been adopted and the report from each one of these states is that the operation of the ordinance is satisfactory and only one modification was suggested, i.e., that it should be made more adaptable to smaller communities which do not have laboratories. It is believed that the ordinance is so framed as to be attractive to the majority of types of cities, noting, however, that in none of the states in which it has been adopted is there a city of 500,000 population or over. Whether the ordinance will prove attractive to the larger cities, suggestion is made that the principal problem with which the state officials have to deal is not that of the largest cities, since in general these have inaugurated milk sanitary laws equal if not better than the average in the state as a whole. About 40 proposed modifications of the ordinance were submitted.to the committee which reports that with few exceptions none of them will affect the operation of the standard ordinance or lead to disagreement. Modifications which the committee feels may lead to disagreement are: The proposed modifications in reference to the pasteurization temperature. The committee reconumends that the ordinance should retain the pasteurization temperature of 1450 C. and not 142° as proposed. The second modification is the proposal that chlorine sterilization should be accepted as being as effective as sterilization with steam. The committee believes that this has not been proven and as the issue is a debatable one it would be wise to exclude this modification. The third modification is the proposal to accept the reductase test in place of the bacterial count. The committee feels this is another debatable issue and recommends that the proposed modification be included in the standard ordinance and that the states and cities opposing it may exclude it as a local adaptation of the ordinance. The committee, in conclusion, points out that the standard ordinance enjoins "minimum requirements"' and recommends its adoption, modified as suggested, by the Conference of State and Territorial Health Officers.-Puib. Health, Rep., 41:31, 1573, July 30, 1926.