Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1908-09-16

| exposed to the atmosphere. At the
time Of milking this exposure is great
est. While perhaps it is impossible to
avoid wholly the introduction of bac.
terra during milking, If proper pre-
cautions be taken the number intro
duced may be relatively small. Bac-'
terra reach the milk from the teat,
udder and body of the cow, from the
hands, body and clothing of the milk,
er, with the dust from the atmosphere,
from particles of excrement or litter
which enter the pail and from the
J pail itself. The action. of these bac-
| terra may be considered broadly as of
! three types: % The large group Of
so-called Tactic bacteria produces lac.
tic acid from milk sugar, which acid
precipitates the principal protein of
milk, causing the well-known curdling
or souring. This always occurs when
milk is exposed to the air and kept at
a temperature above ten degrees G.
These organisms as group are harm
less, as are also the products of their
| growth. They, moreover, render good
service by inhibiting or crowding out
the very harmful putrefactive bacteria
which so frequently reach milk from
eXcreta. These non-sporing organisms
are killed by most methods of pas
teur1zation, while the sporting putre-
factive organisms are not killed by
any method. 1t is obvious, therefore,
that a pasteurized milk containing
putrefactive bacteria such as the B.
aerogenes capsulatus or the B. putri-
| icus of Bienstock, is in a much less
protected condition than raw milk. 90
Another group of organisms produce
| butyric fermentation, also an acid
| change. These grow best at a tenn
perature approaching that of the hui
man body, and produce spores which
resist the temperature of boiling wa
| ter for some time. The products of
/ their growth produce serious disturb
ance in the intestinal tract of man,
| more especially of children. The
| spores of the germs of butyric fer
mentation are not killed by pasteuri-
cation. CD Several heterogeneous,
including the two mentioned in %,
| produce putrefactive lamentations
| alkaline changes which proceed in
milk without indications visible to the
naked eye. These spore-bearing or
ganisms are not destroyed by pasteuri-
cation. Too frequently milk comes in
contact with organisms of specific dis
ease, e. g., tuberculosis, typhoid fever,
diphtheria, etc. PasteuriZation for 20
minutes at 60 degrees to 65 degrees c.
according TO Rosenau, or 20 degrees
to 80 degrees c. for a shorter period
according to Jensen, will effectually
destroy all such organisms.
The length of time during which
milk will keep-that is, the length OF
time which must elapse before sufH
cient numbers of bacteria develop te
produce perceptible changes in it;
function of two factors, temperature
and the initial number of bacteris
present. Under ordinarily favorable
conditions, the number of bacteria in
milk freshly drawn from a healthy
COW viii vary between 500 and 10000
per cubic centimeter. Milk can bs
produced by commercial methods
which will contain less than 5000 bae
terra per cubic centimeter. On the
other hand, carelessly produced, the
number may reach 5O0,00O,000. Since
most consumers consider pasteurized
milk as safe, it should be required. if
the process be used, that it be heated
to a sufficiently high temperature to
kill with certainty all disease-pro-
ducing germs. Pasteurfzation GER
tainly necessitates a better mode Of
delivery of milk, but at best it is an
expedient rather than an ideal method
of dealing with milk. No Trustworthy
conclusions can be drawn concerning
the effectiveness of pasteurization
from the bacterial content of pasteur-
lied milk sold in the retail market, as
one does not know the nature @: the
milk before pasteurization, how long
it has been kept, or the temperature
at which it has been kept; and in this
connection it must ever be remem-
bered that toxic products unaffected
by heat are constantly being produced
in milk We have no method of deter
mining whether or not pasteurized
milk was dsmaged before it was heat.
ed. whereas the keeping quality and
bacterial content of raw milk furnish
good evidence of its real condition.