Dairy and Milk Inspection. 



WHY INSPECT DAIRIP:S AND DAIRY PRODUCTS? 



for the people in general, especially for invalids, infants 

 and young children, the question of a pure milk supply is one 

 of the foremost sanitary problems. The quantity of the 

 staple dairy products (milk, cream, butter and cheese,) that 

 are consumed annually make it all the more necessary that 

 such foods should be pure and wholesome. Great Britain is 

 said to consume annually 250,000,000 gallons of milk. The 

 United States uses yearly 5,209,125,567 gallons. 



The fact that man can contract tuberculosis, typhoid fever, 

 Asiatic cholera, scarlet fever, diphtheria, infant intestinal 

 diseases, and possibly malaria, yellow fever and anthrax, by 

 consuming infected milk makes it of vital importance to 

 the public that such a valuable food should be officially 

 inspected, and every possible means should be used to keep 

 dairy milk clean, pure and free of disease-producing germs. 

 Numerous epidemics* of the above named infectious diseases 

 have been traced to an infected milk supply. 



It is also essential that the inspectors prevent the use of 

 preservatives in dairy products, because such drugs are 

 injurious to the human body. Commercial preservatives are 

 used by ignorant or unscrupulous dairymen and milk dealers 

 in order to keep the milk sweet for a longer time. There 

 may be no intentional wrong on the part of the milk vendor. 

 Ignorance and innocence may be excusable as long as human 

 life is not at stake; but when human health is ruined and 

 lives are sacrificed the law must come to the rescue and pro- 

 tect public health. The city, the state or the federal govern- 

 ment performs no more important function than that of 

 preventing disease and protecting the health of its citizens. 



The question of cleanliness of milk is closely related to its 



*See pages 248-252. 



