Evening star., 1938-02-12
MILK CODE STUDY
|SPROPOSEDHERE
Representative Committee
Considered to Reconcile
Conflicting Interests.

n representative committee was be-
ing considered by the Commissioners
today to draft new milk code for the
District or so amend the present pro-
posed code as to make it acceptable to
the many conflicting interests in
volved.
1t took eight hours of public hear
ings to convince the Commissioners
they were not going to get anywhere
with code which the Health De-
partment drew up after months of ne
gotiations with ice cream manufac-
turers. The Commissioners withdrew
the code after the hearing yesterday
and decided to appoint committee
to study the many proposed amend
ments.
The chief purpose of the code under
consideration was to safeguard the
supplies of milk being shipped into the
District for use in the manufacture
Of ice cream. Earlier in the day, Wis
consin and Michigan Congressman ap-
peared to protest it would place ban
on shipments from the Midwest.
milk Bootlegging" Charged.
During the hearing charges lnvolv-
ing so-called milk bootlegging figured
in wordy disputes. Julian Richards,
representing the Washington Restau-
rant Association, insisted that men,
all the milk regulations. We resent
the charge We are bootlegging." he
declared TITS unfair. Let the ac-
cusers present their evidence"
B. B. D~rrick Of the Maryland and
Virginia Milk Producers Association
cited the importation of great guam
titles Of milk into the District intended
for the manufacture of ice cream. but
which is being diverted, he claimed
for liquid consumption.
The association spent $4,000 from
1885 to 1896 in detective fees, he said,
to stop bootlegging of milk. In 1884,
he charged, 9,400 cans of cream from
the West were brought into Washing
ton. The amount increased to $4,000
cans last year. he claimed, creating
real competition.
Would Clamp Down Hard.
He was for clamping down hard on
the Western source of supply which is
being sent here for the use of ice
cream makers.
why safeguard the bottle of milk
which the child drinks and not regu-
late the ice cream cone the child
eats?" he demanded.
Bootleg milk is being brought into
the District by truck, he said, and de-
livered to garages at night and dis
tributed at night.
Paul E. Lesh, representing the sub
committee of ice cream manufacturers
affiliated with the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association, suggested
that permits to buy milk and cream
be issued only to manufacturers in
the District equipped with facilities
for storage, mixing and pastuerization
This follows the Baltimore code.
He also demanded that all milk and
cream be converted into ice cream
within 96 hours after its first pasteuri-
zation unless homogenized and pas
teurized in the course Of manufacture.
This would get around objections to
the original proposal. which provided
that all milk shipped into the District
be converted into ice cream within 90
hours after first pasteurization. That
provision was aimed at shipments
from Wisconsin and Michigan, Con-
gressmen Of those 0tates had pro-
tested.
Mr.. Lesh also proposed an amend
ment that would permit q bacterial
count as high as 100000 for products
used in the making of ice cream, also
fashioned, it was understood, after
the Baltimore regulations.
Seton Darr, counsel for Rosslyn
(Va.) interests, opposed the Lesh
amendments. He said they would
ruin" the small men, who could not
afford to buy expensive manufacturing
equipment. Others cntended the reg
ulations would tend to increase the
price Of ice cream to the consumer.