St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-06-10
So Dairy Commissioner Ives
Says After a Years In
vestigation.
Results Of the Work of DR..
Drew, the Commission
er'S Chemist.
Not Only Milk, But Cheese, Is
Adulterated--A Health
Issue.

state dairy com MISSION" said Dairy In
spectOr Ives, care not as fully appreci-
ated as they should be, and the reason
is that very few really understand how
much work we are doing and the re-
suits which we are accomplishing. In
the first place, hardly more than year
ago the market was flooded with oleo-
margarine, butterine and other vile COM
pounds which were being palmed Off
upon the unsuspecting public as natural
butter and sold at butter prices. The
effect upon the dairy interests, which
are of such Importance in our state, was
very great, since the farmers were
obliged to compete with these substi-
| tuteS, which could be manufactured at
very small cost. The dealers were
hunted down by the dairy commission,
| the stock on hand cOnfscated, and the
offenders, in some instances, where the
evidence warranted it, brought to
trial and punished. Through the vigil
lence of the officers of the commission
| and the aid of the national law relative
to oleOmargarine. its importation has
been entirely stopped, and / believe
that can safely say that not pound
of any substitute for butter is on sale
| in the state to-day.
I'm regard to milk inspection-we
! began rigorous and systematic inspec-
| ton of the milk which is on sale in the
| cities during last summer, and it has
been continued ever since. A corps of
| inspectors is constantly employed in
Minneapolis and st. Paul, and the re-
suits of their labors have proved very
encouraging. Within the past nine
months over $500 samples of milk have
been collected and examined in these
two cities alone. The effect of such
systematic inspection has been to
greatly improve the character of the
milk which is sold. The dealers are
beginning to realize that there is con-
| siderable risk in supplying their Gus
toners with milk which has been par
TALLY skinned or watered, and are fur
nishing a better article. Last summer
it was no uncommon thing to obtain
samples which were almost completely
| skinned or which contained large
amounts of added water. AT tn 1t time
| nearly or quite half of the samples were
below the legal standard, while at pres
ent we find large proportion of the
milk obtained of first-claSs character"
| SIS there much adulteratiOn of mlk?"
''The adulteratiOn of milk is not con-
fined to any single class of dealers.
| Sometimes it is the local dairyman who
practices it,
SOMETIMES THE FARMER
who ships it to the city dealer, and
sometimes the wholesale dealer is the
| guilty party. We have endeavOred as
far as possible to trace each case to the
bottom and to bring the really guilty
party to trial for the offense In some
| cases we have been successful, and in
others, for one or another reason, we
have failed.
A large number of persons have been
| indicted and considerable. proportion
have either plead guilty or been con-
victed and fined. There are still good
many who will be brought to trial as
speedily as possible.
''In addition to the inspection of the
milk which is being sold upon the
streets, our inspectors receive and
investigate any complaints which are
made to them by individual consumers
and endeavOr to correct any abuses
which are found to exist. We also en-
deavOr to carry out, as fully as possible,
systematic inspection of the diaries
which produce milk for the market, and
to compel the owners to maintain them
in good sanitary condition, and if they
fail to do SO we subject them to the pen
alties which the law provides.
1--WE are receiving the active support
of all the honest dealers in milk, both
among the producers and the retailers,
and are compelling the dishonest ones
to find it to their interest to refrain
from the practice of adulteration.
''Our attention has lately been called
to the importation and sale of cheese
which is adulterated, and we have just
| completed a careful investigation of the
cheese upon the market. with the result
of satisfying ourselves that such goods
are being sold by commission houses
and grocerS. A circular has just been
issued calling attention to the prohibit
| ton of the sale of such cheese, and in
the future any parties who may be
found dealing in them will be subjected
to arrest and to the penalty prescribed
by the law, which is a fine of 500.
sit is the aim of the commission to
suppress adulteration of dairy products
! in every form, and that we are meeting
| with success in our endeavOrS there is
no question"
1.-THE adulteratiOn of dairy products"
said Prof. G. w. Drew, the chemist of
the State Dairy commission, at Mime
apoliS, lis matter which ought to in
tereSt every one, and all measures which
tend to suppress such practices should
be welcomed as productive of good. 1t
was not uncommon, year ago, in buy
ing dozen samples of milk from local
dairymen. to find that fully half were
either skinned or watered, or both. In
! deed, no longer ago than August, 1887,
out of eighty analyses of milk from dali
| rymen, hotels and restaurants, forty
six, or SIS per cent were the legal STAN
| dard. About that time thorough SyS-
! TEN of milk inspection was begun, and
| its effect has been to greatly improve
| the character of the milk supply. A
large number OF cases of fragrant viola
| ton of the law have been made exam
pies of already, and there are at present
many more which will be brought to
| trial as soon as certain features of the
law have been passed upon in the su-
| preme court"
! NECESSARY FOR HEALTH.
SIT is a matter of the greatest import
ance that the public Should be supplied
| with pure milk of good quality, from
healthy cows and dairies which are in
| good sanitary condition, since it forms
| such an important article of food,
especially for young children. If it
| comes to the household in a partially
| skinned condition it is rendered UNI
| suitable for an infants food since it is
less readily digestible and lacks the
proper amount of one of the most
| NECESSARY CONSTITUENTS, udHlely, Tile
fats. If it is watered it is unduly poor
in all of its constituents, and presents
the additional possibility of conveying
disease through the use of impure
water as an adulterant."
The principal authorizations which are
found in this section are the addition of
water and the abstraction of fat. Oc-
casionally sample is met with which
is rendered poor in one or another, or
both of these ways, and to which other
things have been added to improve its
apparent quality. During last fall we
met with few samples that might al