In these days, scientists at the cutting edge of reproductive biology are able to grow a human being in a plastic tube but up to less than 200 years ago it was firmly and widely believed that living organisms could be begotten from lifeless material objects and appear spontaneously!

This was deceptively easy to believe when anyone could observe broods of rats, mice and other pests issuing from refuse dumps; or "crocodiles pushing themselves up from the warm mud banks of the river Nile"; or notice in one's kitchen swarms of maggots creeping about on discoloured meat.

The invention of the microscope in the 17th century (Anthony van Leeuwenhoek ) enabled inquisitive scientists to detect myriads of growing moving thriving tiny creatures called "animalcules", now known as bacteria or by the generic name micro-organisms, which appeared apparently suddenly and spontaneously when any nutrient fluid was placed in unstoppered flasks but not if the neck of the flasks was sealed so as to prevent the dust of the laboratory air from settling down and come in contact with the liquid.

From this beginning evolved the theory and the belief that the phenomenon of infectious and contagious disease was caused by specific species of micro-organisms which could be isolated, cultured, multiplied in millions and identified in the laboratories, and when injected into an appropriate susceptible host produced the original disease syndrome.

In my earlier days there were two diseases which figured very prominently during my medical student days. These were tuberculosis in the UK and undulant fever in Malta.

Tuberculosis and Malta fever are caused by bacteria, a rod shaped bacillus and a micrococcus respectively, and in both instances milk can be an ideal vehicle for the transmission of the germs which can be killed on exposure to heat.

Milk is a very nutritious substance easily available everywhere; it has many valuable constituents; it can be rendered safe for human consumption by heat. This, however, has to be applied with diligence and discretion as otherwise the valuable properties may be diminished or destroyed.

The solution to this problem had been indicated by the "giant" genius Louis Pasteur who at the personal request of Napoleon III found out that the disease affecting disastrously the important wine industry in France was being caused by micro-organisms. His advice to the wine makers was to heat the wine to below its boiling point at 55°C for some minutes. This heat process has been named after him - pasteurisation - and the technique can be used for beer, cider, fruit juices, honey, eggs and, of course, milk and milk products.

With regard to my main topic, pasteurised milk, two of the techniques are:

a. HTST - high temperature short time process. The milk is heated to a temperature of 72°C for 15 seconds;

b. UHT - ultra high temperature process where milk is heated to 138°C for two seconds.

I remember the daily procession of goats promenading through the streets and alleys of our towns and villages or grazing in the vaster open unspoiled countryside existing in those days. I can also remember the buying of warm frothy fresh milk right on one's own doorstep; and the urgent frequent official warnings by the authorities to boil and so heat-kill the microbes of Malta fever, which were perhaps not always strictly complied with. Ultimately, there was the introduction of heat destruction of the microbes, professionally and scientifically by pasteurisation, and subsequent distribution of the safe germ-free product under government supervision.

With regard to this progressive phenomenon of life-saving public health measures, some of the prominent people who figured and took a major part in this drama include army doctor Surgeon Major David Bruce at the Military Station Hospital, in Valletta, now the Mediterranean Conference Centre, near the neglected historic Fort St Elmo, who first isolated and cultured the micrococcus of Malta fever (1886).

Themistocles Zammit, the distinguished archaeologist and physician, nearly 20 years later revealed the source of the spread of the micrococcus causing the perennial endemic disease, the plague of the Maltese population for centuries , as being the omnipresent goat, and Malta fever was due to the consumption of the raw untreated milk (1905 ).

There were also the energetic Chief Government Medical Officer A.V. Bernard; the intellectual Lieutenant-Governor Sir Harry Luke and the deeply religious Stanley Barnes, who fell in love with Malta and at only 27 years arrived on the island to take charge as manager of the Milk Marketing Department, with his headquarters, sited centrally amidst the main residential areas, in Hamrun, taking over the engine sheds and workshops of the defunct Malta Railway Company.

The premises and apparatus were blessed by Archdeacon Joseph Apap Bologna and officially opened by the Governor, Sir Charles Bonham Carter, on May 11, 1938. The distinguished guests were handed a glass of pasteurised milk specially prepared for the great occasion but were understandably somewhat reluctant to swallow the unknown new product until the Governor led by example and drank his glass of milk with evident enjoyment; the guests then followed suit. A few days later pasteurised milk went on sale in Valletta and Floriana; at that time it was estimated that there were 50,000 goats on the island.

Finally, to be fair and honest and complete this story of pasteurisation, one has to remember that we owe a debt in great measure to the genius of the immortal French scientist, the chemist Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895 ) a great benefactor of humanity.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.