The Washington herald., 1913-07-21
MILK STANDARD
not Determined
Federal Dairy Division, n
Statement, Cesrects Err
rsneeus Impression.
QUESTION OF BACTERIA
lhissssthg Aeessnt b Civsa Il h.
psstant Wssk Desc h Efsrt b
Improve Qualify.


The current erroneous impression that
the Department Of Agriculture has es-
tablished . rule strictly defining good
and bad milk was refuted last night,
when q formal statement was issued by
the Dairy Division. Bureau Of Animal
Industry, explaining that no absolute
standards and bacterial counts had been
hxed and would not be. The statement
contains an interesting account Of the
work Of the division in Its effort to i'm
prove the quality Of milk now coming
under interstate commerce.
sIt ID erroneously supposed that the
Department of Agriculture has estab-
lished absolute standards and bacterial
counts to which all milk coming under
its jurisdiction in interstate commerce
must comply" reads the statement.
The department has established no ab-
solute standards. It certainly has not
and will not establish any rule declar-
ing that milk containing less than . GER
tain number Of bacteria per cubic cent?
meter is good milk. Under such q stand
ard milk containing less than q certain
number of typhoid or tubercle bacilli
would automatically be passed as coming
up to standard
Nature of Bacteria.
"A simple count Of the bacteria Is not
In itself sufficient to determine absolutely
its safety. The nature Of the bacteria,
as well as their number. also must, il
possible. be considered. The presence Of
only Q few disease-producing bacteria
might make the milk dangerous. while
several thousand harmless bacteria could
bs present without necessarily indicating
that the milk was unsafe. A high count
CT the kinds Of bacteria that normally
are =, resent in milk indicates that the
milk is dirty. or that 1t has not been held
at low temperature or that 1t II old.
''The department, in its milk activities,
Is carrying on an extensive campaign Of
education to help dairymen produce and
market good, clean milk. This work is
carried on principally by the dairy divi-
sion of the Bureau Of Animal Industry.
This division exercises no policing func-
ton. 1t has no power under the law to
seize milk or to prosecute milk dealers.
Its work is purely educational 1t issues
many educational bulletins based upon
its experiments in the economical pro-
duction of clean milk. 1t supplies farm
ers with these bulletins. and also sends
men into the field to show milk produc-
ers how to make changes within their
means which will raise the quality Of
their milk and also increase their profits.
Help MIX Producers.
These demonstrators have helped
milk producers who supply more than
go cities: In each city these demon
strators co-operated with the local
health authorities, not to help them Sc
cure evidence or bring prosecutions, but
to improve the local system Of inspec-
ton, whereby the inspectors can aid
tho milk producers Of the territory to
bring their milk up to the city's own
standard without being called upon to
make excessive expenditures.
Through this Bureau. the Department
supplies tuberculin for testing herds.
These demonstrators 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 cannot. require the
farmer to pasteurize his milk. Where
they find a herd that is not tested for
or milk being produced In
an unclean way. they advise that the
malk be paeteurized, using any one Of a
number of competing machines or a
pasteurizer. As a result OF
this work, thousands Of farmers have in
troduced new and sanitary methods Of
producing and shipping milk-not be-
cause they were forced to do SO. but
because they saw the Justice Of pro-
tecting their consumers and found that
they lost less milk and made greater
profits by following the specialists ad-
vice"