THE MILK CONTRACTOR 261 



Further observations will be necessary before definite conclusions as 

 to the practical value of this action of clarifiers can be reached but it 

 seems that it must be helpful although it is hardly probable that re- 

 liance can be placed on clarifiers to wholly remove disease germs. 



Standardizing. From the mixing vats the milk goes to the standard- 

 izing vats where it is brought to the butterfat content that the contractor 

 has determined the milk he sells shall have. Practically, this is generally 

 fixed by the minimum requirement of the milk ordinance of the city for 

 butterfat. Thus if the code establishes 3.2 per cent, as the minimum 

 butterfat content of whole milk, most dealers will sell milk that tests 3.3 

 to 3.5 per cent., whereas if 3.5 per cent, is the standard, milk that runs 

 a trifle higher in butterfat will be sold. Since the milk standards of 

 most communities are set so low that the milk of all but a few cows can 

 meet them, much of the milk delivered at the milk plant carries more 

 butterfat than the law stipulates as necessary, and standardization of 

 such milk means lowering the butterfat content in some way. On the 

 other hand, some milk that is low in butterfat in standardizing has the 

 content thereof raised. When the milk of a herd runs close to the set 

 limit a little richer milk or cream is often added to bring the herd milk 

 above suspicion. Also, a man whose herd tests but 3.5 per cent, may wish 

 to market 4 per cent, milk and does so by skimming part of the milk he 

 produces and adding enough cream to raise the test to the desired point 

 while the skim-milk is used by feeding it to his stock. The laws of some 

 communities forbid standardization on the ground that it upsets the 

 natural ratio between the butterfat and the other constituents of the 

 milk and also on the ground that the cream and the milk which are added 

 are apt to be older than the milk that is to be standardized and hence 

 are likely to increase the acidity and the bacterial count. To the first 

 of these objections it may be replied that the ratio of butterfat to total 

 solids varies considerably in the different breeds of cattle and that there 

 is no evidence that the changing of the ratio by standardization is in any 

 way disturbing to the health of the great bulk of milk consumers. The 

 truth of the other allegation must be admitted but it is for the interest 

 of the dealer to use fresh milk and cream in standardizing for, if he 

 does not, the keeping quality and the flavor of his milk is likely to be 

 impaired so that the danger to be apprehended from this source is less 

 grave than might be expected. As a matter of fact the public is prob- 

 ably served with a more uniform quality of milk where standardization is 

 practised than where it is not. So the wisdom of laws prohibiting stand- 

 ardizing may be doubted especially as they do not appear to be particularly 

 beneficial and certainly invite evasion and encourage deception, because 

 dairymen see no harm in the practice, and are neither going to run the risk 

 of prosecution for selling milk that, although it normally is a trifle above 

 what the law requires in butterfat, occasionally falls below it, nor stand 



