HISTORY OF CERTIFIED MILK IN CALIFORNIA. 



By Dr. Adelaide Brown. 



The first Medical Milk Commission was established by Dr. Henry 

 L. Coit, of Newark, New Jersey, in 1893. The general plan of this 

 Medical Milk Commission has been followed since throughout the 

 United States. The production of the dairy which comes up to the 

 requirements for cleanliness as shown by the bacterial count, fat 

 percentage and general chemical tests, and in dairy technic and the 

 tuberculin test given every six months to the herd is certified ; 

 these being the standards of the Commission for the production of 

 a pure and completely sanitary milk. 



In 1907, as a result of the example of this first Medical Milk Com- 

 mission, twenty-two milk commissioners sent their delegates to 

 Atlantic City, and the American Association of Medical Milk Com- 

 missions was formed. This Association was addressed by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture experts, by specialists in 

 sanitation, etc., and resolved itself into standing committees to dis- 

 cuss the points of variation in the individual commissions and to 

 construct a working standard for the use of all milk commissions. 

 The reports of the work of these committees and the reports of the 

 certified dairies made the program of the second meeting of the 

 American Association of the Medical Milk Commission at Chicago 

 in 1908. At this meeting the milk commission had increased in 

 number from twenty-two to forty-eight, and standard requirements 

 on the fat test and bacteriological test as recommended by the 

 American Public Health Association were adopted. In 1909 the 

 third annual meeting of the American Medical Milk Commissions 

 took place at Atlantic City and reports were sent in from fifty-six 

 commissions, representing twenty-two different States, many States 

 having protected during the year through legislation, the term 

 "certified milk," thus recognizing and endorsing the voluntary work 

 of the milk commissions. The California Legislature passed such 

 an act in January, 1909. 



In California there are at present three milk commissions repre- 

 senting the Alameda County Medical Society, the San Francisco 

 County Medical Society and the Los Angeles County Medical 

 Society; and in the process of the making there is one in Sacramento 

 and one in San Jose. The milk commissions in the bay region of 

 California are certifying to three dairies and San Francisco is to-day 

 consuming 2,000 quarts of certified milk, while probably about 1,500 

 quarts are being used in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley. Certified 

 milk is also procurable on the trains of the Southern Pacific and has 

 been sent across the continent and across the Pacific numerous 

 times. 



The certified dairies of Mr. Nelson and Mr. Timm entered into 

 the contest in Cincinnati and were high up in the honorable mention 

 class. Though their milk was eight days old when it reached Cin- 

 cinnati, the bacterial count was excellent. One sample contained 

 "only 100 bacteria to the cubic cm. and nine of the twenty-four 

 samples sent contained less than 1,000 bacteria to the cubic cm." 

 (below 10,000 being required). 



4 



