Marion progress., 1949-01-13
The Importance
of Good Milk
By JACK D. COBB
County Sanitarian

ment, in cooperation with the news
papers of Mcdowell county, intends
to publish from time to time as
public health service articles of real
public health significance to the
community.
| Today's article will deal with milk
supplies which should be of interest
to every citizen in the county On
the positive side of the public health,
ledger, milk possesses many ad-
vantages over other types of food
used for human consumption. Ger,
tainly it is one of our ESSENTIAL ar
ticles of diet. 1t has repeatedly been
proclaimed natures most nearly
perfect food, possessing practically
all of our essential dietary require
ments, with the exception of rough
age, some iron and perhaps Vitamin
c. If we examine the milk consumer
nations of the world one can readily
see that modern progress and civil
ization, as we normally think of it, is
largely confined to those places and
areas classed as milk producers and
consumers.
Since milk is classed as "nature's
most nearly perfect food" your
Health Department is vitality inter
ested in increasing the per capita
consumption Of good milk through
ont Mcdowell county and North Car
olina. Most children should have a
minimum of one quart daily and
adults one pint.
Within recent years and because
of growing demand for Grade A
milk, many Grade A dairies and pas
turization plants have been con-
structed throughout this section Of
the state, and yet this demand for
good milk supplies is far from being
satisfied, since many of our people
are still consuming milk from un-
approved sources and car loads of
milk are being shipped daily into
North Carolina from other states.
Why is your Health Department
so concerned with good, clean, sani-
tary milk supplies produced on dairy
farms awarded the coveted Grade A
rating ? H ere are some of the
reasons why the negative side of
the ledger often times gives the
public health sanitation and health
officer night mares:
First of all milk is the one farm
product which proves to be the most
difficult to harvest, handle and trans
port to the market in a clean and
unspoiled condition.
Secondly, it has been found to be
an ideal culture medium for the
rapid growth of bacteria. These bac-i
terra can include disease germs,
causing among others the following
diseases: tuberculosis, Scarlet Fe-
yer, Typhoid Fever, Scarlet Fever
Paratyphoid Fever, Undulent Fe-
yer, Diphtheria, Dysentery, Diarrhea
and Septic Sore Throat.
In fact public health authorities in
the past have attributed more deaths
throughout this country due to con-
| taminated milk than from all of our
other food stuffs combined.
Thirdly, it is common knowledge
that the opaqueness of milk pro-
uces an ideal camouflage or covering
to hide dirt and other filthy sub
stances. The public health bateri-
ologist in many a modern laboratory
often times is not unduly surprised
to find more bacteria in O m e
samples of so called "barnyard"
milk than he would find in a equal
amount of creek water into which
tour sewage mains discharge.
Fourthly, and this should con-
cern the mothers and fathers of all
children, it is well known fact that
we feed much of our milk to the
two age groups in the two extrem-
tiles of life, that is, our young chill
dren and our old folks, the toothless
one, so to speak, to those in which
probably the flame of life flickers
lowest and the age groups ordinarily
weakest and most susceptible to dis
ease. Certainly, these most loved of
all age groups deserve milk that is
clean, graded and safe beyond all
question. Certainly so important an
article of diet, and yet one which
often begins to rot before leaving
the COW, deserves every possible
sanitary precaution.
Your Health Department is fully
aware Of it's immense responsibility
in protecting the milk sheds of this
section, and it urges you to consume
more milk but that you demand the
best either Grade A pasturized milk
and milk products preferably, or
Grade A raw.
A later article will deal with the
m ior sanitary rao,1iranoants Of the