DEVELOPMENT OF CITY MILK SUPPLY PROBLEMS 33 



not until after the discovery of the Babeoek test in 1890 1 "' 

 that municipal control of skimming and watering became 

 reasonably efficient. In the decade following 1890 state and 

 municipal regulations against skimming and watering became 

 practically universal. As an aid in securing court convictions 

 minimum legal standards were commonly included in these 

 regulations. While these minimum legal standards have un- 

 doubtedly served -a useful purpose in combating skimming 

 and watering they have exerted an unexpected and unfor- 

 tunate influence because they have tended to standardize the 

 entire supply at a low level. 



The growing appreciation of the wide variation in the 

 food value of the milk now upon the general market is giving 

 the problem of food value a new form. There is a desire on 

 the part of the public for a milk considerably richer in fat 

 than required by the minimum legal standards. Milk dis- 

 tributors desire to cater to this trade and wish to distribute 

 a milk with a uniform fat content distinctly above that of the 

 ordinary supply. The fat content of the normal milk supply 

 is subject to variations. A supply which on the average gives 

 the desired fat content will fall below this desired composi- 

 tion during a portion of the year and be above the desired 

 point during another portion. This difficulty could be readily 

 met by adding cream during one period and skim milk at 

 another were it not that such additions are a violation of 

 some of the laws regarding milk adulteration. The proper 

 regulation of milk standardization is now receiving careful 

 consideration, and standardization seems destined to be an 

 early development in the retail milk business. 



Until somewhat recently public consideration of food value 

 of milk concerned itself almost exclusively with the amount 

 of fat present. Later some attention began to be given to 

 the accompanying solids, and the total energy value or the 

 calorific value of the milk came- under discussion. The 

 newest angle of this old question of the food value of milk 



13 S. M. Babcock, A New Method for the Estimation of Fat in Milk, 

 Especially Adapted to Creameries and Cheese Factories in Annual Re- 

 port, Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., 7 (1890), pp. 98-113, 1890. 



