Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-09-01


value of milk as a food, espe-
clally for the young and growing ami
mai, is almost universally known and
needs no discussion except to remind
you that it is the nearest to perfect
OF any natural food we have. The
analysis of good milk shows the pro-
portion of proteins, fats and car
bohydrates to be correct for a well
balanced food. While not advocating
to live on milk alone, yet milk will
sustain normal health longer than
any one food. While milk, raw or
cooked, is such a splendid food, it is
known by sanitarians and public
health workers to be the most easily
contaminated food and one of the
quickest to spoil
All health workers are preaching
and teaching, drink milk for your
health" but at the same time pro-
claim just as loudly to warn against
unclean milk. Do you know under
what conditions your milk is handled?
And what are the chances for
tamination? When you buy milk for
little children and those who are
WCcIrACLC0 NY yO0 WAOA1 " AAAOW
you have clean milk, don't you? Well,
that is why milk is labeled. Milk
sanitarians have worked out plans for
dairy Earns, regulations for mixers
and milking rules for sterilizing and
cooling. All of which they feel are eS-
sential to protect milk from com
tamination, and of course, we know
that even then there are slips and
milk is infected.
The rules and regulations for the
milk and it's production handling and
marketing are known as milk or
dinance" These milk ordinances are
changed little from time to time as
better methods and means of protec-
ton to the milk are worked out.
Grade "a" milk is or should be-.
from cows free of T. B. and Bangs
disease; containing IA percent or
more of butter fat and total basteria
to run less than $4,000. That is, good
milk from disease-free cows, produc-
ed in clean barns by clean workers,
and handled in a manner outlined in
the ordinance as giving the best
known protection from any source of
infection. Some folks are prone to for
get that a clean rich milk at it's
source is only half of the require
ments of an ga" grade. That the
barns, milk-house,. sterilizer, cooler,
bottling plant and premises around
milk-house utensils, and a number of
other things all as described in the
milk ordinance have to meet certain
standards before the dairyman is en-
titled to dress up his milk bottles with
an ga" Grade label
Personally, would prefer n,y
milk below standard in sutter fat. to
tsne not standard in the manner of
handling. If these sanitary conditions
of barns and equipment were not an
essential part of producing and mar
keting first class milk, then the
cities and citizens of our country
would not stand for those things in
it's ordinance. To the health officer
and sanitary inspector is assigned un-
der this ordinance the duty of seeing
that milk sold to the public meets the
requirements Of the ordinance for the
brand, or label, under which the milk
is sold. The people, both local and
the travelling public, know what "a"
Grade means and they are relying on
the health departments to protect
them in the matter of milk and food,
and the health officials fail in their
duty to the community when they
knowingly, allow a milk ordinance,
or any health law to be violated.
Many cities have adopted late
milk ordinance that permits only
Grade GA" milk to be sold in the city.
For the information of some who may
be interested, the milk ordinance now
in use by the City of Henderson was
the public health service milk ordin-
ance of 1926, adopted by Henderson
in 1928. This ordinance permits the
sale of any grade Of milk provided
the cap on the bottle, shows the grade
according to the regulations Of said
code for the milk and the dairy
Public Health Officials are primar-
lily concerned with the commercial
diaries. If you as an individual, or
even as one family, care to take the
risk of lower grade milk and feel
that the milk you get from your near
neighbor is all right, and you are sat
isfied, it is certainly all right with the
health department, for should you or
member of your family get scarlet
fever or typhoid fever from the milk
there is only one person or one family
affected, and there is no comeback
on the health officer. Should con-
tamination occur in a commercial
dairy selling from $50 to 200 gallons
of milk day and there you have the
chance to infect from five to eight
hundred persons at this one time. You
can thus imagine the calamity to a
community should one of these dairies
fall down in it's technique.
+ With less than the equipment of
a Grade A dairy we have this poten-
tial danger daily. Can conscientious
health officer take the responsibility
of such danger? Thus it sometimes
bcomes the duty of health depart
ment to inform the public as to the
grade of milk sold by commercial
diaries.