To the Haitor of the "Nonru-Citxa Dany News"
Smt have read with much inferest' the letter from Dz. J. G. Lepwioy In your issue of September 124 pointing out the very. serious ftuation in connection with the milk supplies of Shanghai, which ace being distributed "in an. apparently most Jcontaminated form, though we all believed and felt an' assured degree of Jconfidence that all was well with the milk which is daily offered to Us, and have been relying pon our Municipal Health Department to see that their well-defined rules and regulations were being carried out dail According to Dr. Leowipoe Met so, and his letter must surely peal to the general public who are Jdatly using mille that fs not proper strom some or many of the Shanghai Jdairies in their daily routine wone of pasteurization, There assuredly ap-[pears on the face of it the unmistal Jable position of faulty pasteurization, lor perhaps faulty and unclean me: [thods of drawing the milk from the Jaairy cows—whether it be done by mechanical or hand labour makes very little difference. 'The bacteria Jeontamination is there, evidently, and [the pasteurization has not been effective, proving in. itself that. the milk has' either never been pasteur ized or the pasteurization given glaringly faulty.
wrote to your paper some two or three years ago and the correspon-Jdence which took place then gave me confidence that the Municipal Health [Department had done their best to provide clean and reliable milk for public consumption, but the letter from Da, Lapwact gives me a shock to find and believe that we have all been "bluffed." The age of miracles past, so we believe, but it would appear to be only a miracle now that we epidemic caused through badly contaminated milk, 'As I understand it, the matter of this milk' contamination is. chiefly bacteria which causes typhoid fever Jana para-typhoid, but it may also be [cholera and scarlet fever, and, any Jone of them is bad enough and especially serious through an epidemic. dare say the medical profession will say "do not be alarmed" but what may also be said is "we want less professional bluffing on the very serious matter of Shangtial, milli feontamination." A whisky and soda may wash away a stomachful of bacteria, but there is not such a fnandy mixture -avatlable Jor poor innocent infants and children T understand Dr, Lrowisct is a [Doctor of Sclence of the United Kingdom and that he is in. practice jin Shanghai and that he has been a Hong time Here and, further, his pro-{fessional work gives him' the \opportunity of knowing exactly he bac-feria content of both mille and water, ete, and he is able from his practical Jexperience to know the exact truth Jand facts which emanate from any feontaminating sources of any nature T feel the public in Shanghai are Jindebted to him very much for his timely and considerate warning, [through the medium of your correspondence column.
"A. J. Rtcwanosow. [Shanghai, Sept. 28.
Conditions in one Dairy the Editor of the "Nonri-Cuixa Datey News Sm—Th. letter of A. J, Rrcianosox attributes the—presence' of bacteria in the—milk of Shanghai, to the faulty pasteurization, but fiom what have an occasion to see daily—the contaminated milk becomes 50 through a much simpler reason: just plain diet.
Right next door to the Apartment house where I live, there is a Dairy censed to sell grade "A"
This Dairy is foreign-owned and under" foreign supervision. Yet, from what T see at least four times dally, when passing this ostablts ment, Tam rather surprised, that there are very fow epidemics here Jdue to the dirty methods used in obtaining and distributing milk: the house itself (or rather a bunch of old dilapidated shacks) is dirty: inside and out; the various shacks, where the different departments of the Dairy are located, in addition to containing machinery etc, are used for the night. as sleeping quarters for the Chinese staff; the staff itself (both Chinese and foreign) are unkempt to the extreme, and are usually dressed in white overalls, which are dull-stey from diet can well imagine, what goes on during milking, bottling, sealing etc, T am just a layman and. know ttle about pasteurization, but it seems to me that definitely; dirt is @ greatly: contributing factor in the contamina tion of the milk, and. before accentuating the faults of the proper [process of pasteurizing, why" not supervise properly the" elementary [sanitary conditions in every Dairy'
Shanghai, Sept. 29,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.