St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-02-16

followed by the official inspection
SHOULD HAVE MILK TESTED
Vermont Health Omcers Are Not
Obeying The Law-Keep
Milk Clean.
Miss Alice w. Wilcox. director of
the Museum, recently read a paper be-
fore the Civics club on Clean Milk"
AT our request she has kindly furnish
ed summary of the paper for publi-
cation and as we have been urging
the importance of clean milk we take
pleasure in presenting it to our read
ers. OF especial interest will be the
statement of the law requiring an Of
ficial test of the milk once in six
months, in view of the fact there has
not been an official test # milk sold in
ST Johnsbury made in the last five
years.
Clean Milk.
Milk is an indispensable article of
food. In the United States the amount
of milk used. daily averages per per-
son from one-half pint to a third of
a quart. In Vermont there is a much
higher consumption than in the aver
age state. because Of the extent of the
milk industry.
There is a closer relation of milk to
the public health than in the case of
any other food, for three reasons: be.
cause milk is exceptionally nutritive;
| it is the sole diet for young children;
and it is subject to contamination
through adulteration or the growth of
disease producing bacteria. 1t is es-
pecially important therefore that the
milk supply be abundant, of good
quality, and pure.
| An increased yield of milk per COW
may be obtained both by breeding and
selection, and by superior care and
feeding. Much effort is expended by
producers to secure as large a
quantity of milk as possible from the
dairy herd. but is sufficient attention
paid to maintaining a high standard
of quality?
Milk is composed of approximately
$3.50 protein, 40 fat, $50 milk sugar,
.79e mineral matter and S7@o water
The fat is in state of fine emulsion,
giving the fluid it's Opaque white ap-
pearance. This makes it possible to
adulterate it without easy detection.
Also it is a very good nutritive medium
for the growth of bacteria. Such
disease germs as diphtheria and tuber-
culosis are the ones most frequently
transmitted by milk. The lactic-acid
forming bacteria decompose the lac
tose, souring the milk. They multiply
with greatest rapidly during the ex-
cessive heat and electrical conditions
in thunderstorms Unless kept in cold
storage all bacteria in milk tend to
multiply with great rapidity. In one
hour after milking at SAC bacterial
multiply z II fold; in four hours 215
fold; and in 6 hours $500 fold. There
fore milk should be kept cool until
time of using and carefully covered
to prevent the most dangerous con-
tamination by dust and germs from
the air. The analysis of milk includes
specific gravity test, fat test, and bac-
THEOLOGICAL tests. 1'he most conven-
lent method of publication of milk is
Pasteurization or raising it to a tenn
perature of 6Oo-630 from 20 to 30
minutes. This kills bacteria but not
all spores of bacteria. 1t should still
be guarded by keeping it cool and COW
cred until used.
No Fat Standard In Vermont.
Since the fat of milk is commercial
ly the most valuable constituent and
all other nutritive stuff is in proper
most important. The different states
have their own legal fat standard.
ranging from $3.50 in Massachusetts,
to 2.59o in Rhode Island. Vermont re-
quires no fat standard whatever.
Nearly every state also has legally es-
tablished standards for butter, butter
milk, cheese. cream, condensed milk,
and ice cream. Vermont has none.
But one safeguard seems to be the re-
quirement in Vermont that each dali
ryman when he takes out a license
shall fill out the dairy score card. sent
out by the Bureau of Animal Indus
try CT the U. S. Department of Agri-
culture.
This card asks for definite scoring
(to the scale of 10) of the sanitary
conditions of cows, stables, milkroom
and utensils. and is often used in rat
ing the grade of milk of different
dealers. More important and accurate
however are the results of laboratory
tests of samples of milk sent for anal
ysis.
An Unenforced Law.
Among the pure food laws of the
state of Vermont is one which states
that each health officer shall take
samples for examination at least once
III SIN HlOnluS CNCAS PCASOA
ing a license to sell milk. (1908. No.
lis. Sec. 81 Apparently this law has
never been enforced. and samples of
milk are analysed only when suspicion
is aroused. either by conspicuously
dirty milk. or by an outbreak of in
fictitious disease.
Three reasons may be cited to ac-
count for the low standard Of milk and
its products in Vermont: the low sell