446 



FOODS 



ally killed. If, however, as in the case of bread, fruit, 

 and some vegetables, no cooking is done before the foods 

 are eaten, the foods may often carry disease. 



Milk is particularly liable to be infected with disease 

 germs because they readily grow in it and increase rapidly. 



Many epidemics of 

 typhoid fever, scarlet 

 fever, diphtheria, and 

 other germ diseases 

 have been directly 

 traced to polluted 

 milk. Either the 

 milk came directly 

 from dairies where 

 these diseases existed, 

 or had been put into 

 bottles taken from in- 

 fected homes and not 

 afterward sterilized. 

 The older such milk 

 becomes the greater 

 is the danger of using 

 it since bacteria mul- 

 tiply in it with such 

 tremendous rapidity. 



Infants are particularly liable to contract diseases from 

 impure milk because this is their main diet. Statistics 

 show that a large percentage of infant deaths are caused by 

 infected milk. If milk is scalded the germs are killed, but 

 scalding makes milk less palatable and less digestible. 

 When milk is thoroughly heated to a temperature of 160 

 F. for fifteen or twenty minutes, the disease germs are 



MILK DELIVERY IN BELGIUM 



