20 CITY MILK SUPPLY 



Dirty Milk. With regard to dirty milk, undoubtedly one of the chief 

 reasons why it is held in disfavor is that the very idea of consuming food 

 that is unclean is repugnant to most people. In some quarters there 

 has been a tendency to make light of this feeling as being merely an 

 appeal to the fastidious. In reply it has been well said that the eyes, 

 the nose and the tongue were given men to use and that foods which 

 do not appeal to the senses are depreciated in market value. However, 

 if esthetic desire is given free rein it will lead to inordinate extravagance 

 and perverted taste. The demand for foods put up in fancy styles in 

 costly containers and the penchant for colored foods, bleached preserves 

 and polished rice are illustrations of these tendencies. So with milk, 

 the striving for cleanliness may be pushed to the point where it costs 

 more than the benefit it yields is worth and the search for the last germ 

 becomes a craze. Great quantities of dirty milk are consumed daily 

 by adults without apparent harm but physicians regard dirty milk as 

 distinctly injurious to babies because their tender mucous membranes 

 are unfit to cope with the millions of bacteria that it contains. Rpsenau 

 gives five definite reasons why dirty milk may hurt infants, viz.: 



1. " Ordinary dirt may contain yeasts that cause fermentation in the bowels, 

 distending them with gas, producing paralysis in them and even causing death. 



2. "It contains B. subtilis which may set up putrefaction in the intestinal 

 tract and which has been found in excessive numbers in many cases of gastro- 

 intestinal disturbances of children. 



3. " B. welchii which is ordinarily found in common dirt may cause fatal diar- 

 rhea in babies and even in adults and may excite irritation and dysentery. 



4. " Tubercle bacilli get into milk in cow dung and so may other germs that 

 ordinarily do not particularly harm an adult but may overwhelm an infant. 



5. "There may be toxic substances formed in milk. Dirty milk may not be 

 poisonous but it is apt to be." 



From an industrial standpoint dirty milk is highly objectionable. 

 It yields a gassy curd and is likely to cause off flavors, consequently 

 cheese from such milk brings low prices. Dirty milk and cream entail 

 severe losses on the butter trade because butter made from dirty cream 

 does not grade high in the market and so has to be sold cheap. The 

 production of large quantities of such cream has played into the hands 

 of foreign manufacturers who find it easy to compete with the poor 

 butter that results from its use. The evil has become so serious that in 

 the Middle West active efforts are being made to curb it. 



Infected Milk. Infected milk carries specific disease-producing 

 bacteria and causes cases or outbreaks of communicable disease. While 

 such milk is relatively unusual it is of immense importance and the desire 

 to diminish the opportunities of its occurrence has had great weight in 

 framing milk ordinances and food laws. 



To summarize : the souring and spoiling of milk is not a result brought 



