Milk
In the past, many people who lived in the countryside kept a cow for milk and to make their own cream, butter and cheese. During Victorian times more and more people moved from the countryside into the towns to find work. Some continued to keep cows in filthy backyards. Others bought milk from milkmen who brought milk straight from the farms. Customers took their jugs out into the street and the milkman filled them up.
This picture shows a Sainsbury’s shop assistant standing beside a milk churn in the early 1900s. Milk was often polluted by dirty churns and measuring scoops. Some shopkeepers diluted it by adding water or added yellow colouring to make it look creamier. Sainsbury’s cleaned all their equipment thoroughly and never cheated customers. Outside one of their branches they had a ‘mechanical cow’. Customers put a coin into a slot, pulled a handle and filled up their own jugs with milk.