STORE ^. DELIVERED MILK 



By A. D. HOLMES * 



WE CANNOT LIVE healthy, 

 normal lives if vitamin G is 

 absent from our daily diet. 

 This valuable vitamin must be 

 constantly present to protect us 

 from scurvy, a disease causing 

 spongy gums, loose teeth, anemia, 

 and general weakness. 



When milk, one of the principal 

 products of our Massachusetts 

 farms, is freshly drawn from the 

 cow, it is a rich source of reduced 

 ascorbic acid or vitamin* C, but, un- 

 fortunately, by the time the milk 

 is on the consumer's table, it has 

 lost a serious amount of the vitamin. 



Home-delivered Milk Superior 



Milk for household use is now 

 obtained by the dealer-retail house- 

 to-house delivery system or from 

 the near-by grocery store. The 

 house delivery plan was changed 

 during the earlier years of World 

 War II to an alternate day delivery. 

 In addition, milk sold in stores is 

 now frequently kept in a refriger- 

 ated, illuminated, glass display 

 cabinet. 



Previous studies indicating that 

 commercial milk purchased by the 

 consumer contained only a small 

 amount of vitamin G prompted a 

 study at this Station to determine 

 the amount of vitamin G in average 



* Research Professor, Chemistry 



store and home-delivered milk dis- 

 tributed in the Amherst area. One 

 hundred twenty-six samples of com- 

 mercial retail milk were obtained 

 from local stores and typical house- 

 holds supplied by the house-to- 

 house delivery system. Fourteen 

 samples were obtained from each 

 store or home at intervals during a 

 period of 10 to 11 months. The 

 average amount of vitamin G for 

 all samples of store milk was 3.8 mg. 

 per liter ; for all samples of milk de- 

 livered to homes, 6.8 mg. per liter 

 (one liter is approximately one 

 quart). It would seem, then, that 

 home-delivered milk is superior to 

 store milk as a source of vitamin G. 

 These low values, 3.8 and 6.3 mg., 

 are conclusive enough evidence 

 that the commercial milk distrib- 

 uted in the Amherst area is very 

 low in vitamin G. Furthermore, 

 they indicate that almost 66 to 80 

 percent of the 20 to 25 mg. per liter 

 of vitamin G in the freshly drawn 

 milk is lost before it reaches the con- 

 sumer. 



Information Urgently Needed 



The loss of such a nutritionally 

 important vitamin can be avoided 

 only if urgently needed informa- 

 tion is obtained concerning pro- 

 cedures for processing, storing, and 

 distributing commercial milk. 



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