The Detroit times., 1915-12-07
New York City's Milk
Standard Should Be
Adopted BY Whole
United States.

OulIcU SldtcS.
New York City's milk standard
should become the uniform stand
ard for the whole United States.
While other cities have not been at
the task of studying the milk ques-
tionNvery long, or perhaps have not
made their studies very thorough,
New York has kept right at II. What
II has. accomplished will doubtless
benefit every city In the country.
Since New York city has adopted
the grading Of milk a similar system
has been adopted by the state Of
New York and by Newark and Jer-
sey City. n. J.
Probably tho greatest OF all our
food problems Is the getting OF clean,
wholesome, pure milk from the farm
to the consumers table. In order
to do this successfully. there must
be some established grades or uni
form standard by which the city's
milk be judged. In most OF our
cities, however. there is no standard.
Health officials and food inspectors
work at cross purposes with the
dairies. It's confusion all along the
line. The consumer pays the same
price for different grades OF milk In
many cities outside New York. Ger
ti6ed milk" in these Fcities means
very little as there IL no grade. no
standard. New York has It's uniform
standard which, adopted as such
throughout the country. would save
the consumers throughout the Unit
ed States no mean sum OF money.
A word about New York's milk
standards and how she has worked
to secure pure. graded milk for lit
tie New Workers., and big ones. too.
The city Is unique In being a munich
pality which has undertaken TO sup
ervise practically all OF its own milk
supply all the way from the COW TO
the consumer. II does not seek to
Upon this and that individual. but
has taken the entire responsibility
upon its own broad shoulders. When
the housewife reading this article
learns that nearly all of the ~
farms on which the city's milk sup
ply is produced are located outside
the city limits and more than 5000
OF them outside the state of New
York. she VIII realize Just how stu
pendous is the task which lies upon
the commissioner. and the depart
ment The Board OF Health has the
power TO adopt "a sanitary code with.
out the concurripg vote Of any other
municipal authority, and this code
has the full force and effect OF law
in New York city, so long as its
provisions are consistent with gen.
ersl state laws.
Surprising are the statistics which
tell us that New York receives on
an average 100000 quarts of milk
daily from $4,000 farms located In
six different states--New York. New
Jersey. Pennsylv Connecticut,
Vermont and Massachusetts,. Some
cream is received from Ohio and
from Canada. The milk shed" COW
ers an area OF $4,000 square miles.
The milk Is obtained from approx
mately $4,000 cows and shipped
from 100 centers over IL different
railroads. the shortest haul being so
miles and the longest 425 miles.
When the milk for New Workers
reaches the CITY II IL received at Is
different terminals. eventually de-
livered in $500 wagons and dis
pensed at $4,000 stores. 1t is esti.
mated that about 1877 900 persons are
engaged daily I'm handling the city's
milk supply. Al least 1880 dealers
take out permits and some 27s pas
teurizing plants are recorded In city
and country.
The frst essential in handling this
immense problem was the adoption
Of a standard for the grades OF milk
to be sold In New York; To insist
upon the observance OF certain sani-
ta-y regulations governing the
source OF supply: those handling the
cows and the milk in the dairies;
the places where milk was sold In
the city and the men who handled II
there.
The sanitary code OF the Board
OF Health prohibits the possession
and sale OF unwholesome, unclean,
watered or adulterated milk and
cream and butter or cheese made
therefrom. The code defines "adul-
terated" as:
MIX containing more than ss Ia
per centum of water or fluids; less
than II 1-2 per centum OF milk
solids; less than eight IL per cen.
tum Of solids not fat: milk from
which any part of the cream has
been removed; milk containing less
than three per centum OF fats;
cream which contains less than IS
per centum Of butter fat; milk or
cream which has been drawn from
animals within Is days before or
ave days after parturtion: milk or
cream from milk which has been
drawn from animals fed on distil-
lery waste or any subrtance In
state OF putrefaction or on any un-