The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-30


 uation in the United States.
 'It is erroneously supposed that the Department of Agriculture has estab- lished absolute standards and bacter- ial counts to which all milk coming | under it's Jurisdiction in interstate commerce must comply. The Depart ment has esta blished no absolute stan l dards.% It certainly has not and will not establish any rule declaring that milk containing less than a certain number of bacteria per cubic centime- ter Is good milk. Under such @ stan
 dard, milk containing less than a cer- tain number of typhoid tubercle bacilH would automatically be passed, as coming up to standard. A simple count of the bacteria is not in itself l sufficient to determine absolutely its
 safety. The nature of the bacteria as well as their number also must if pos sibIe be considered. The presence of only a few disease producing bacteria might make the milk dangerous, while several thousand harmless bacteria could be present without necessarily indicating that the milk was unsafe The presence of even a few colon baci1li is presumptive evidence that COW manure has been allowed to get into the milk between the COW and
 the consumer Similarly, a high count of the kinds of bacteria that normal ly are present in milk indicates that the milk is dirty, or that it has not
 been held at low temperature or that it is old.
 t'The Department in it's milk activi- ties is carrying on an extensive caIn-l paign of education to help dairymen produce and market good clean milk. This work is carried on principally by the Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry. This Division exercises no policing function. It has no power under the law to seize milk or to prosecute milk dealers Its work is purely educational. This Di- vision issues many educational bull 1etfns based upon it's experiments in the economical production of clean milk. It supplies farmers with these bulletinse and also sends men into the field to show milk producers how to make changes within their means which will raise the quality of their milk and also increase their profits. These demonstrators have helped milk producers who supply over 200 cities. In each city, these demonstrations CO., operated with the local health au- thorities, not to help them secure evil dence or bring prosecutions, but to improve the local system of inspec- ton whereby, the inspectors can aid
 the milk producers of the territory to bring their milk up to the citysl own standard without being called upon to make excessive expenditures.
 with the Inspectors, the demon
 
 friends of the farmer. They may show him that certain cows in his herd do not yield enough milk to pay for their feed. Or the demonstrations may point out certain changes in feeding which will greatly increase the yield. They help the farmer build an inexpensive milk house. and show him how a window or two or a water proof floor for his barn, or a little whitewash or more frequent cleaning d.. Ri T-r167f Where desired, they explain methods of pasteurization and shipping and handling of milk Through this Bu- reau, the Department supplies tuber- culin for testing herds. These demon strators have no power to compel the farmer to follow their advice.-they merely try to show him that these measures are for his own good. They do not and can not require the farm CT to pasteurize his milk Where they find a herd that is not tested for tu- berculosis, or milk being produced in an unclean way, they advise that the 1 milk be pasteurized, using any one Of a number of competing machines or a homemade pasteurizer. AS re- suit of this work, thousands of farm CTS have introduced new and sanitary methods of producing and shipping l rniIk,-not because they. were forced l to do so, but because they saw the justice of protecting their consumers and found that they lost less milk and l made greater profits by following the specialists advice.
 taThe Dairy Division advises the pas teurization of milk unknown or of doubted purity because in large meas | ure it protects the consumer from dangers that might be incurred by using such milk in the raw state. Pas teurizatiop is not recommended as a | substitute for sanitary precautions but as an additional safeguard where the inspection is not sufficient to guar | antee the purity of the milk.
 t~The Dairy Division also is conduct | ing an extensive campaign among consumers In the first place, it is try ing to convince them that it costs more to produce clean, w11 o1esome milk than to produce dirty and dangerous milk. In the second place. it aims to show the householder how to keep milk after it has been delivered by the milkInan- Clean milk, if allowed to become warm, if kept in unclean vessels, or if exposed to the dust of rooms or left within reach of flies quickly deteriorates and may become dangerous
 Whatever power the Departm ent has to compel milk dealers to produce safe, clean milk comes to it from the Food and Drugs Act. Under this act, | the Depe -tment has power to request | the Department Of Justice to order prosecutions or seizures only in the | case of milk that enters interstate l commerce In this work, the Depart ment does not set up standards, but accepts the standards of the city into which the milk is being shipped across | state lines. The Bureau of Chemistry, | which has only a limited number of inspectors does most of it's work by | cooperating with local authorities in | the, case of milk produced across state line Where milk is found to be l adulterated, it is of course seized. ! Where indications are found that the 1 milk is not properly produced, and is | likely to become dangerous, the dairy 1 man is warned to clean up and is l shown how to improve his milk. If | he fails to act on this warning, pros | ecution follows. The purpose of this | work now being carried on around | Pittsburgh is not so much to protect |