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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1968-07-311 Mr. Kula continued to interrupt and complain about the regulations. Dr. Cosgrove and Dr. Colburn said if there was no fur- ther business then they moved the meeting be adjourned. Motion seconded and passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 P.M. MEETING HEALTH DEPARTMENT & MILK DEALERS my 31, 1968 A closed meeting of representatives of dairies and stores showing a consistently high coli and bacteria count in milk and cream over the past year was held in the Conference Room of Cary Hall at 10:00 A.M. on July 31, 1968. Mr. R. L. McQuillan, chairman, Dr. William Cosgrove,Dr. Charles Colburn, Robert Heustis, Director of Public Health & Milk Inspector, and John Condon, Laboratory Man, represented the Health Department. A representative of each dairy or store notified of this meeting was present. (Attendance sheet on file in Health Office.) Mr. McQuillan opened the meeting by thanking the dealers for coming and wxplained the reason for this closed meeting was to see if a solution could be found to the cause of the con- tinued high counts of coli and bacteria in the milk and cream samples taken during the past year. He explained that never before had the Board had so many dealers with such consistently high counts in the dairy products, and he hoped from this meet- ing a solution could be reached in the interest of all concerned. He went on to explain that the Board of Health had a duty to the people of Lexington, to assure that they get the cleanest quality of products possible, but also the Board felt they had a duty to the dealers to see if there wils anything that could be done to make their job any easier. he went on to explain the State had set the standards for the milk and when the samples tested by our department is consistently high then this Board is very much concerned. Mr. McQuillan then introduced Mr. Heustis, the Milk Inspectore of Lexington. Mr. Heustis introduced the Board and Mr. Condon, he then went on to say that it was all to their interest in coming in to see if they have any suggestions that would help us to learn why we were getting these high counts so consistently. In 1967 and 68 the milk counts from a number of dealers were consistently high according to the standards outlined by the Milk Regulartory Board. When we receive the report of the milk counts from our laboratory we send a copy to the dealer, if this is over the standard the Health Department located in the Town of the Pastuerizing Plant is also notified. 215 216 In some instances, after the dealers are notified, the quality control people from the plant has called and told me they have found something in checking the plant. At the retail I have found milk stacked 2 to 3 rows highland in some cases, the milk has been stacked in the isles for a period of time. Milk stacked like that would get warm and it would take some time to reduce the temperature of the milk. He also went on to cite one case where the refrigerator door was tied open for the convenience of the customer. The quality control programs, in some instances, are not so good as they could be. If the milk is only checked three times a week it could be okay today and then you would hope it will be okay.tomorrow. A good quality control program is checking milk processed every day, in some instances every two or three hours during the processing. Also coding of the prod- uct is another thing, some companies use no code at all and others have codes that are so indistinct they cannot be read. If the product was coded and you received a report of a high count it would be easy for you to trace back and possibly dis- cover the cause. Mr. McQuillan: Par. Condon would you explain what the coli is and what can cause these high counts in both coli and plate count in the milk and cream. Mr. Condon: I'm sure these gentlemen here know as much about the causes as I do, but, in my opinion, it is poor hand- ling somewhere along the line. The Coli could be caused by an operator not being careful, the equipment not being thour- oughly washed and sanitized, even an operator in dirty cltthing could contaminate the product or the equipment. The high plate count can also be poor handling. The coli count is after pasteurization and sometimes excessive condensation from the equipment can drop into the milk, and again the coli can come from improperly cleaned machines. Mr. McQuillan: well then if the milk is okay when it leaves the plant we can assume it is the handling after the plant operation when we receive reports of high counts. Would any of you Members of the Board of Health like to say anything at this time. Dr. Colburn: I would like to hear what our guests have to say. Mr. McQuillan: We would like to hear from you gentlemen. We want to help out in any way we can, and we want you to help us clear up this problem. Always over the years we may have had one or two companies with high counts but they have been taken care of right away. Never before have we had anything like this that is why we have asked you to come in to see what you think may be the cause. Mr. Rose: You said you have found the milk in the stores stacked 2 or 3 rows high or in some cases stacked in the isles, in your opinion, is that the dealers responsibility or the 217 store managers. Mr. Heustis: The people who are licensed to deliver milk in Lexington are responsible for that operation, the stores are licensed to sell milk and they are responsible for this part of the operation. Mr. Rose: Then in your opinion, in a store operation it is the store managers responsibility to see that the milk is handled properly. Mr. Heustis: The store manager is responsible but often the company doing the bottling has to keep a check on their methods of handling. Mr. Rose: Would you be holding the dealer responsible or holding the store responsible once it is established the problem is in the store? Mr. Heustis: I would keep checking went on to say, better coding would help manager could rotate the stock properly. the coding is very confusing and in most the store. He also in the stores. A At the present time cases hard to identify. Mr. McQuillan: Is this milk put under refrigeration as soon as it is delivered to the store? Mr. Rose: The drivers deliver the milk to the store but they are Union men and the Union rules do not allow for them to pack the milk before they leave the store. If the managers are busy or it is a busy day in the store this milk can some- times be left out for 3 or 4 hours before it is put under re- frigeration and then it is hard to get the temperature of the milk down again. Also on Thursday and Friday when they know they will be busy they are apt to stock the refrigerators the night before, this blocks circulation and the product will warm up in the night. Dr. Colburn: Say you were bottling milk for Purity-Sav- Mor, I take that particular store because we do not have a Purity in Lexington, and have a report that the milk in the store was not up to standard. Would you, as the supplier, be interested in what the product was like when it left the store? I believe if the supplier has one main outlet he cannot hold the store completely responsible because of the licenses. Mr. Rose: I know of a number of towns and out of state where the improper handling in the stores is causing problems. in these cases the milk inspectors are working with us to correct these problems. Quite often when we tell them to put the milk so high, they do not pay any attention to us, but in many instances when the milk inspectors have spoken to them it has done the trick. I know there are not enough inspectors to get into the stores as often as we would like, but we do like you people to speak to them and it does seem to carry more weight. 213 Mr. Heustis- In the new Food Regulations put out by George Michaels office, he orders milk and dairy products to be kept at a 45 degree temperature or less. And a clearly marked load line. Lexington has posted signs in all the mar- kets in the refrigerators and freezing cases stating the load line and that the products are not to be packed over the load line. I have noticed an improvement in the packing of the cases since this sign was put up. I don't know whether it is because they know I will be inspecting every week or so, or not. The store managers are cooperating very well. I have put down "Review of Milk Regulations", the Board of Health works along with the regulations of the Town and the Milk Regulation Board, but maybe you gentlemen have some- thing to say about them, are they practical? Mr. McQuillan: I think one of the things that concerns us greatly, is where the milk is taken from the trucks and the counts are high. Even after the dealer is notified these counts continue to be high and nothing is done to correct the problem. Mr. Brox: One thing I have noticed is the milk inspector thinking he will save the driver, will pick up a quart of milk instead of the 2 gallons for testing. After these reports came in I checked the two routes which come into Lexington, one carries 16 quarts 16 quarts and the other carries 12 quarts, the rest of his load is z gallons. With so few quarts on a truck the driver leaves them uncovered and handy this would make the quart samples warm up much faster than the z- gallons. Quite often the new drivers are not concerned with keeping the milk properly iced and covered where the drivers of the old school you don't worry about. Mr. Connors: I noticed a lot of high counts in the cream. At one time we had a big volume of cream business in this area. Now the cream business is almost nil. When we were doing our own cream we very seldom found any coli in it. Now we have to buy from the Farmer's Cooperative Market and we are at their mercy. Mr. McQuillan: Have you gentlemen any ideas situation? In my mind when we keen getting these and over and nothing is done about it, then there for a Milk Inspector. Mr. Heustis: I know you are all aiming for a shelf life. Some companies are delivering twice a three times a week, this could be a problem if the cream is not properly coded or not legible for the read it. We know of the trouble you have with dri he is not rotating the stock on the truck properly cause problems. on this counts over is no reason longer week, others milk and drivers to vers, but if this could Mr. McQuillan: I have looked over the counts for 1964, 65, and 66 and find nothing like we have had for this past year. L7" tr 044 1 1 219 You men relate to the hot weather, to me that should not matter, if the milk is properly handled. What would hap- pen if we published these counts. They used to do that in some towns years ago. The Board said they did not think that would help. Mr. Rose: I would like to get together with Mr. Con- don, your laboratory man, and see if we can trace back to see if we can find out where the trouble lays. I have found, over the years, that by working with the Milk In- spectors and Laboratory Men it is easier to find a solution. Any other way is like coming in the back door. Dr. Colburn: I think this problem can be solved by working together. That is probably the fastest way to handle this thing. Mr. Founier: Mr. Heustis, when you pick up a sample will you mark the next bottle or carton in the case so that the driver can bring it back for our laboratory to test. If these are marked with a crayon then we would be sure the driver would not sell it. I have, as I turned over to you, reports of our milk taken by the Mate the same day you picked up, and there was nothing wrong with them. They used to split samples but I don't think that is necessary if the bottle next to the sample you take is marked and we get it at our laboratory. Mr. Heustis: I usually speak to the driver and tell him to set a sample aside from the same case. Mr. Brox: If these are marked, the driver will bring them back to us, we are never sure if the driver brings us the right sample or not. Mr. McQuillan: Are you gentlemen satisfied that our inspector is doing the right thing, could this be some- thing on our end not being handled right.? Mr. Connors: Do you test ice cream for plate count? If the cream counts are high it would show up in the ice cream. Mr. Heustis: That is done by the State. We have done ice cream scoops and they are high even when kept in the running water. If you are doing your own bottling are you running your cream first or last. One of the dairies have had so little call for cream they have dis- continued carrying it on the trucks except on special order. Dr. Cosgrove: I would like to ask these gentlemen under what regulations do you operate under? As you all know about the court case we had here a few years back, we took the dealer to court on our regulations but when the appeal was heard the judge ruled in favor of the 220 defendent on the basis of the Milk Regulatory Board Regulations which we had never heard about. Mr. Brox told about people out of state working for the Milk Regulatory Board but did not answer the Doctor's question. Mr. Connors said he would explain our court case only by saying the defendent had a very smart and experienced law- yer who had done a lot of work for the Milk Regulations Board prior to our case. None of the gentlemen answered Dr. Cosgrove's question as to what regulations they worked under. Mr. McQuillan: We will give these things another month to see what happens. If you have any suggestions we will be glad to hear them. Mr. Connors: The high counts in the cream. percentage to the milk in violations. What is the Mr. Heustis: Better than 60% of the violations are in the cream. Mr. Condon: The transferring ofsamples is always a prob- lem. I am perfectly willing to run duplicate samples if you want. When we transfer the samples from the milk inspector to me it is almost the sane as when your driver takes his sample back to the plant and then you must take it to your laboratory. Mr. Heustis: Do you think the Milk Regulations need changing? Mr. Rose: Mr. Leach: they are trying 40 thousand was plate count. I I think they are workable. We talk in regard to shelf life. Possible to reduce counts too fast. A few years ago acceptable, now they are asking for 5 thousand doubt there was any more hazard at I.0 thousand. Mr. Heustis: With the bulk tanks and rapid cooling they feel this should work, but you feel they have been knocked down too fast. With the bulk tanks maybe the milk isn't being kept cold enough. Mr. Leach: I agree that coding is important in todays type of production. Mr. Heustis: Where some dealers have come to 2 days de- livery a week coding is important and I feel it should be clear enough for the house wife to read. Mr. McQuillan: Well if you gentlemen have nothing more to say I am sure you will work this problem out. We will be glad to help in any way we can and I am sure Mr. Heustis will cooperate in any way he can, also Mr. Condon. 000 1 1