376 CITY MILK SUPPLY 



furnishing immunity from it and it is to be remembered that the more 

 heavily the herds are infected the more likely is the protection offered 

 by pasteurization to fail. 



Federal Control of the Milk Supply. The object being to secure for 

 the public, milk of a character comparable to that indicated by Henderson 

 and Whitaker the question arises whether control of the supply had best 

 be undertaken by Federal, State or municipal authorities. Such power 

 as the Federal Government possesses to compel milk dealers to produce 

 safe clean milk is derived from the Food and Drug Act which is adminis- 

 tered by the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture. 

 Under this Act, the Department has power to request the Department of 

 Justice to order prosecutions or seizures, only in the case of milk that 

 enters into interstate commerce. In this work the Department does not 

 set up standards but accepts those of the city into which the milk is 

 being shipped across State lines. The Bureau of Chemistry, which has 

 only a limited number of inspectors, does most of its work by cooperating 

 with local authorities in the case of milk produced across a State line. 

 When milk is found to be adulterated, it is, of course, seized. When indi- 

 cations are found that the milk is not properly produced, and is likely 

 to become dangerous, the dairyman is warned to clean up and is shown 

 how to improve his milk. If he fails to act on this warning, prosecution 

 follows. 



The Food and Drug Act applies to milk imported to the United States 

 from foreign countries and according to its provisions the milk must 

 conform to the standards of the nation from which it originates as well as 

 to those of the United States. Dairy products which do not meet these 

 standards are denied entry. The U. S. Department of Agriculture and 

 the health officials of Canada cooperate in the attempt to secure the 

 production and shipment of sanitary milk. Producing dairies must re- 

 ceive a well-balanced score of 50 on the basis of 100 possible points. To 

 secure this score a dairy must meet certain Canadian requirements as to 

 sanitation and handling of the milk, that are very similar to those that 

 would be required to make such a score on the " official" score card in 

 use in the United States. Furthermore, the milk must neither be mis- 

 branded nor adulterated within the meaning of the Act. Milk that meets 

 Canadian requirements also meets those of the United States. 



Such is the statement of the Department of Agriculture with reference 

 to its own work. Evidently the Department has no jurisdiction over 

 intrastate milk business and it is patent that a bureau with a limited 

 number of inspectors can exercise only a nominal control over the great 

 bulk of milk that enters into interstate commerce. Nevertheless the 

 Department has done important work in studying conditions that obtain 

 in particular districts and in assisting local authorities of cities receiving 

 considerable quantities of milk from extrastate sources to increase the 



