250 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



a sense a waste product, is concentrated or "condensed" by evap- 

 oration in vacuum pans, and then sold to milkmen, who, after 

 robbing their milk of a part of its cream, add enough of the 

 concentrated skim-milk, containing almost wholly non-fatty sub- 

 stances, to bring the yield of total solids above the statute require- 

 ment. Thus a milk which has lost a valuable constituent is made 

 to conform with the law. No provision in the existing law can 

 reach this fraud, for two reasons : first, the removal of the cream, 

 or a part thereof, can hardly be legally proven unless the opera- 

 tion has been actually observed ; and, second, the substance added 

 is in no sense foreign to milk. There is, however, a way to meet 

 and prevent the deception, and that is, to establish a standard for 

 fat; and the bill already referred to fixes this at 3.70 per cent. 

 If this shall pass, there will no longer be any reason for adding 

 non-fatfcy solids. 



Another change in the law, which might be of advantage 

 both to consumers and producers, would be in relieving the 

 Board of Health from the arbitrary requirement that they 

 expend a certain amount for the investigation of dairy prod- 

 ucts. The creation of the Dairy Bureau and the increased 

 popular attention given to health matters lead to this sug- 

 gestion. Our present laws relate almost wholly to commer- 

 cial frauds, and have but little if anything to do with health 

 matters. Under the present statute the Board of Health is 

 compelled to divert a certain amount of its appropriation 

 from health work to work in detecting commercial frauds. 

 This work could be as well done by the Dairy Bureau, and 

 the transfer w T ould leave the Board of Health with greater 

 resources to investigate some of the great health problems 

 in connection with the milk supply which are now pressing 

 upon the public attention. 



The law requiring us to work in harmony with milk in- 

 spectors has produced good results, and we are indebted to 

 Dr. Harrington and the milk inspectors of a number of cities 

 other than Boston for much valuable information given to 

 us. We wish that this department of the work of the Bureau 

 could be extended and broadened, so that, without encroach- 

 ing in the least upon the prerogatives of the local officers in 

 the different cities, this office could be a clearing house for 

 an interchange of information, and for giving to the Legis- 



