SANITARY MILK PRODUCTION 179 



giving the bacterial count a fixed value in the score card, perhaps to 

 half the score. 



Brew of the New York Station has recently compared the bacterial 

 content of milk produced in 34 dairies scored by three different cards, 

 namely, the "official," the Cornell, and the New York City, and found 

 no correlation whatever between scores and the counts. He states that 

 the reason for the discrepancy cannot be certainly given but that the 

 most apparent reason is that a large number of items included on the 

 score card have little relation to the number of bacteria in the milk. 

 He says that in the district studied, it was not true that low-scoring 

 dairies were necessarily insanitary and filthy because low-scoring dairies 

 were found that compared favorably in point of cleanliness with high- 

 scoring ones. 



In spite of the fact that the score card is not intended to distinguish 

 the quality of milk, there has gradually grown up a tendency to apply 

 it to this very purpose, and of late there has developed a well-defined 

 movement to convert it from its original use and make it a standard of 

 marketing. 



The growth of the desire for such a change has been slow. Its origin 

 may be traced to the policy of boards of health requiring that dairies 

 should attain a certain minimum score in order for the milk therefrom 

 to be admitted for sale within their jurisdiction and in their publishing 

 the scores. Under such conditions the consumers became interested in 

 the scores and very generally made the assumption that the dairies with 

 the highest scores had the best milk. The fact that certain of the large 

 milk companies of Chicago paid a premium for milk from dairies scoring 

 65 or more tended to foster the same idea and the action of the Public 

 Health Council of the State of New York allowing health officials to 

 grade milk either on the bacterial counts or on dairy scores alone, will 

 well-nigh convince the milk-consuming public that dairy scores are an 

 indication of milk quality. 



Future of the Score Card. With the understanding that the effect 

 of the cow stable and its surroundings is of less importance than other 

 factors on the quality of milk there has developed a tendency to lay less 

 emphasis on dairy inspection and more to judge the fitness of milk for 

 public consumption on quality alone. In fact, the question is raised 

 whether a satisfactory milk supply is best and most economically secured 

 by inspection or laboratory control. Hitherto, the majority of cities 

 have relied on the former method, but since the grading of milk has been 

 undertaken there has been a decided swing toward bacteriological and 

 chemical examinations. The score card has improved the environment 

 in which the dairyman works, has educated him along sanitary lines, and 

 has stimulated him to take pride in his products so that it seems intrinsi- 

 cally sound and desirable to retain, but those who have given the matter 



