Transitions in the Malta dairy sector

Abstract

The Ordinance of 1904 to Amend and Consolidate the Laws Concerning Food and Drugs and Drinking Water indicates that in Malta, at that time asses, goats, sheep, and cows were kept as dairy animals to supply milk for human consumption. Traditionally, sheep’s milk was transformed into curd for the manufacture of cheeslets, while goat’s milk constituted the entire national milk source. The milk of the donkey was, till that time, considered helpful to nourish and assist weak persons. After considerable investigation and reports by British experts, the Department of Agriculture initiated a campaign to upgrade the local breed of cattle and improve their milk yields to identify the best-suited breeds for the local climatic conditions and also with the intention of the eventual replacement of the goat as the main supplier of liquid milk. In tandem, a milk pasteurising plant was established to act as a central depot for the collection of raw milk that was pasteurised and offered for human consumption. Bowen-Jones et al. note a 1939 Milk Marketing (MMU) Report which stated that traditionally the entire milk supply was provided by the goat. After Bruce and Zammit's efforts in 1885 and 1905 in identifying the bacillus of Undulant or Malta fever in goat's milk, the highest incidence of about 2500 cases of brucellosis in humans recorded in 1946, precipitated the introduction of milk pasteurisation. This was also followed by the prohibition of the sale of raw milk and increased support for cows' milk. The advent of World War II, witnessed a severe shortage of fodder supplies, so much so that a slaughtering policy was put in place to reduce livestock numbers, thereby safeguarding the limited supplies of grains for human consumption while at the same time also generating a supply of meat and milk. Imported condensed milk in tins and dehydrated milk powdered (that was reconstituted into liquid milk with the addition of water) were staple, and as a consequence, the incidence of undulant fever fell to record low levels. During the post-war period, to address the nutritional status of civilians, public health and welfare policies encouraged children and pregnant women to consume larger quantities of liquid milk. This increase in demand induced a revived interest in increasing the national goat herd with the consequence of reinfection by brucellosis. In 1946 the incidence of undulant fever was the highest ever recorded prompting the official encouragement for the production of cows’ rather than goat’s milk.