362 SCIENCE OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 



Chemistry, and called the Division of Foods, with a force of 

 about twenty-five men devoted entirely to the study of foods. 

 The results of the investigations made by the Bureau of 

 Chemistry have instructed and awakened the people of the 

 country and have thus helped to make possible the food 

 laws which have been passed. 



City ordinances. Many cities are passing local ordi- 

 nances affecting the manufacture and sale of foods, by 

 regulating sanitary conditions in the butcher shop and the 

 bakeshop where bread and other foods are made or handled, 

 and requiring the covering of fruits and bread with screens 

 to keep off the flies. It is desirable to require that cooked 

 foods be kept in dust-proof receptacles, for dust may be one 

 means of transmitting disease germs. Under ordinary city 

 conditions many dust particles fall on food left exposed. 

 Culture plates exposed under a glass showcase in a bakery 

 collected 15 bacteria in ten minutes, while one exposed on 

 the open counter collected 800 bacteria in the same length 

 of time. A culture exposed on a sidewalk fruit stand col- 

 lected 10,000 bacteria in ten minutes, nearly 700 times as 

 many as under cover. Only those stores should be patron- 

 ized which keep their food covered. Sometimes bread is 

 wrapped at the bakery in paper and this helps to keep it 

 clean. A bacteriologist who made an estimate of the num- 

 ber of bacteria on a loaf of bread, found an average of 7500 

 bacteria on a loaf of unwrapped bread and only 585 on a loaf 

 of wrapped bread. 



" White list." In some cities local organizations help 

 to raise a high standard of cleanliness by keeping a " white 

 list." Members of the organization visit and examine the 

 stores, and if they find a store clean and sanitary it is put 

 on the " white list." If it is not clean it is not put on this 

 list. This stimulates the storekeepers to make greater 

 efforts to keep their stores clean in order that they may be 

 advertised as on the approved list. 



