§ 76. Mr. Macquistenasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that, in the opinion of many members of the medical profession, the pasteurising or half boiling of milk deprives it of some of its essential vitamin contents which can be easily replaced by the use of orange juice with the milk which has been pasteurised; and whether he will take steps to ensure that every vendor of pasteurised milk shall supply the requisite number of oranges to take the place of the vitamins destroyed by the pasteurisation of the milk?
§ Sir K. WoodI have no power to take the course which my hon. and learned Friend suggests.
§ Mr. MacquistenWill the right hon. Gentleman not take steps to get these powers? Is he not aware that if pasteurisation of milk is made compulsory, the big milk companies will make enormous profits out of it. Is he aware that all well-to-do children in this country get a ration of orange juice with their milk? Why should not the poor children of this country have it? Think of the benefit it would be to the orange-growers of Palestine.
§ 90. Mr. Lambertasked the Minister of Health whether he will give the assurance that butter imported from the Soviet Union, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania is made from milk that is pasteurised?
§ Sir K. WoodI will make inquiries with specific reference to the countries named and inform my right hon. Friend of the result.
§ 94 and 95. Major Neven-Spenceasked the Minister of Health (I) whether he has been informed of the results of the investigations into the nutritive value of pasteurised milk at the Shinfield Institute for Research in Dairying and at the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen; and, if so, what were their general conclusions as to the vitamin content of pasteurised milk;
(2) what experiments have been carried out to show whether the addition of orange juice to pasteurised milk is necessary in the case of adults and children fed on a mixed diet, and whether 2252 the question of pasteurisation of milk has any bearing on the question of whether a child fed entirely on milk should also be given orange juice; and whether he will give particulars?
§ 84. Mr. R. C. Morrisonasked the Minister of Health whether the medical officers of his Department are now satisfied that pasteurisation is in no way detrimental to the good value of milk?
§ Sir K. WoodMy medical advisers are satisfied from the experiments carried out at the National Institute for Research in Dairying and the Rowett Research Institute that pasteurisation has no significant effect on the nutritive value of milk. Is is, however, specially desirable in the case of children reared on a milk diet, whether the milk is raw or pasteurised, that the diet should be supplemented by some fruit or vegetable juice such as orange or tomato. This view is supported by the report of the Committee on Cattle Diseases under the chairmanship of Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins which was published in 1934.
§ Lieut.-Colonel Acland-TroyteIs the Minister aware that there is a large body of opinion which entirely disagrees with him?
§ Mr. MacquistenWill my right hon. Friend ask his medical officers to taste the milk? Is he aware that one does not need to be a doctor to know that raw fresh milk is a fine thing, and that pasteurised milk has a nasty taste?