172 PROTECTION OF THE CONSUMER. 



multiply so little as to be still comparatively few in number. 

 If milk is produced under cleanly conditions and is kept at a 

 temperature of 50 F. it is possible to preserve it many days 

 without any apparent changes in it due to bacteria growth. 



In Europe ice is not used so freely as in America. This 

 is partly due to its being more expensive, and partly to the 

 fact that the milk companies have not been accustomed to its 

 use. The milk for European cities is commonly cooled by 

 water or otherwise, but without the use of ice, and is shipped 

 into the city and delivered as quickly as possible. In Berlin 

 most of the milk is delivered before it is seven hours old, 

 and the methods adopted in American cities are unknown. 

 The use of ice in America makes it possible to furnish milk 

 in large quantities from a radius covering 500 miles, and yet 

 delivered in the city in a better condition, so far as bacteria 

 are concerned, than is found in many European cities where 

 the dairy farms are only a short distance from the city. The 

 milk of New York city in cold winter weather will average 

 about 250,000 per c.c., while in summer it frequently runs 

 up to 500,000-1,000,000 or more. In European cities the 

 numbers which are present in market milk run considerably 

 higher than this. The free use of ice is the foundation of 

 the American milk industry. 



Frozen Milk. If milk is cooled below 32 it is frozen into 

 ice and in this form it may be protected absolutely from 

 the action of bacteria. Since milk bacteria do not grow at 

 temperatures below freezing, such frozen milk will keep 

 indefinitely. Within the last few years the plan has been 

 adopted of furnishing milk in a frozen condition for city con- 

 sumption (210). This plan has several practical advantages. 

 The milk is commonly frozen in special cans which are easy 

 to handle, may be packed in very small compass, shipped as 

 freight, and transported for a long distance without danger 

 of melting. Milk may be transported in this form for many 

 hundreds of miles and may, if properly treated, be kept for 



