246 Bulletin 38. 



that both morning and evening milk was cooled by its use every- 

 day before sending to the factory, the first speaker replied : 

 " What's the use of all that trouble? Get a little Preservaline, 

 that will keep your milk all right and isn't half so much work," 

 and in his reply expressed, I am sorry to say, the sentiment of 

 many creamery patrons. 



The use of preservatives in milk is the lazy man's substitute 

 for cleanliness. The fact that it is deemed necessary to add some- 

 thing to the milk to keep it sweet until it reaches the factory is 

 evidence of unclean or careless handling, while the fact that pre- 

 servatives are added is evidence of criminal ignorance on the part 

 of the persons using them. 



It is possible to make good butter or cheese only when the 

 souring of the cream or milk is under control of the manufacturer. 

 If, then, milk comes to the factory so adulterated by the use of 

 chemicals that it will not sour, it is impossible to make good but- 

 ter or cheese from it. In butter making large losses of fat in the 

 buttermilk have been traced to this cause, and we have known 

 the entire make of a cheese factory for several days to be an ab- 

 solute loss because a single patron used Preservaline in his milk. 

 • But more important than these financial losses is the fact that 

 the use of the preservatives renders the milk unwholesome and 

 deleterious to health. The liquid preservatives most commonly 

 used depend for their preserving power upon the presence of 

 formic aldehyde of which they are in part composed. Concern- 

 ing this disinfectant, A. S. Mitchell, chemist for the Wisconsin 

 Dairy and Food Commission, made the following statement in 

 Hoard's Dairyman in 1898: " During the last year a new and 

 most powerful disinfectant has been foisted upon the market as 

 being harmless. * * * * This substance is 



formic aldehyde, a substance in general use as a disinfectant and 

 for preserving and hardening dead tissues. Doctors have been 

 obliged to abandon its use as an antiseptic, in a very dilute form, 

 for preserving ear washes and similar solutions, as continued con- 

 tact in dilutions as high as 1 to 10,000 causes the skin to die and 

 peel off." 



The fact that a solution is strong enough to stop the develop- 

 ment of bacteria in the milk should be sufficient to deter any in- 



