334 



CITY MILK SUPPLY 



plate may be soldered onto the can. One of the problems in shipping 

 milk is to make sure that the milk is not tampered with in transit. So 

 various devices have been patented for locking the cans. The lead seal 

 is most commonly used. 



The condition of the cans must be good; battered and dented cans 

 are objected to because they give short measure and also because they 

 are impossible to clean and are, therefore, insanitary. The shipping of 

 cream in rusty cans is the cause of the fishy odor in butter. Boards 

 of health confiscate rusty and battered cans because of their highly in- 

 sanitary character. 



The washing of cans in many dairies is very carelessly done. This 

 is a great mistake for if they are not thoroughly clean and sterile they will 

 seed the milk that is put in them with germs. It is particularly bad 

 to leave a little milky water in the can for it is a splendid culture medium 

 for germs. When cans are cleansed they should be scrubbed outside and 

 in, thoroughly rinsed, and then sterilized with steam, after'this they should 

 be dried out with a hot air blast or inverted and dried in the air, after 

 which the cover should be put on. Swabbing out a can with a sour rag 

 as it is often done is not washing it. In the milk plant and on the farm 

 the cans should be kept inverted or covered to keep out rats, mice and 

 flies. 



Item of Shrinkage in City Milk Plants. The shrinkage and waste 

 of milk in city milk plants is an item to be considered. One of the large 

 dealers of the country who makes a determined effort to keep this loss 

 at minimum gives the figures in Table 98 showing the percentage of loss 

 at his plant month by month for 2)^ years. 



TABLE 98. PERCENTAGE OP SHRINKAGE IN THE TOTAL VOLUME OF MILK IN PASSING 

 THROUGH A LARGE CITY MILK PLANT 



The Dairy Division of the U. S. Department of Agriculture obtained 

 estimates of the daily losses of milk in city milk plants from 41 dealers 

 and found that they ran from 0.5 to 4 per cent., averaging 2.15. A dealer 

 who handles 5,000 gal. of milk a day and loses 2.15 per cent, of it, in the 

 course of a year with milk at 30 cts. a gallon, would lose $11,771.25, a 

 very tidy sum. The Division points out that there is a certain amount 

 of unavoidable loss in transferring milk from cans to bottles and in the 



