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85
The Bethnal Green figures for 1935 are not large enough
to warrant any exhaustive analysis but the following extracts
from Mr. Lloyd's calculations may be of interest:
Average
fat
Percentage
Samples taken in shops 3.36
„ „ street 3.29
,, ,, course of delivery *3.25
,, ,, from dairymen who are also cow-
keepers 3.35
„ ,, large dealers 3.28
„ ,, „ retailers from outside the
borough 3.28
*It may be noted that 42 of the samples taken on delivery
were at hospitals and schools, intended for invalids and
children and presumably supplied under contract, yielding
an average fat percentage of 3.24.
The questions raised by these figures may be summed up
in the following main points :
(1) Is the concentration of the milk trade into the hands
of a few large wholesale firms and its systematic
processing, while undoubtedly productive of some
good in raising the bacterial purity of the milk,
accompanied by any lowering of the chemical standard
(as measured by the fat content) ?
(2) Whether the low fat standard laid down in the Sale
of Milk Regulations, 1901, offers a temptation in the
wholesale processing of milk to skim off some of the
surplus fat above this standard ?
A well known feature of the London milk trade during
recent years has been the sale of so-called " Utility " or
" Economy " Cream which appears to be a mixture of milk
and cream. It may legitimately be suspected that the
cream which is so used may be derived from the surplus milk
fat referred to above. If this be so, the procedure while
probably very profitable for the milk trade makes it doubtful
whether the consumer who imagines that he is getting milk
" as delivered by the cow " with all its natural fat is receiving
" a square deal." Moreover, although this enquiry has been
confined to the fat content because the required information
was more readily available, it is very probable that the nonfatty
solids in milk have undergone a similar reduction and
that the question involved is really a general deterioration
in the quality of the milk sold to the consumer.