178 CONTROL OF THE MILK-SUPPLY. 



III. PUBLIC PROBLEMS. 



Although this subject primarily concerns the regulation of the 

 milk-supply after it reaches the city, certain aspects of it are inti- 

 mately associated with farm life. City authorities are every year 

 extending their control more and more directly to the farm. The 

 public is making certain demands regarding the milk-supply that 

 must be acceded to by the milk producer. 



Freedom from Disease Germs. This demand needs no argu- 

 ment. To meet it the only plan within sight at present is the in- 

 sistence that only healthy cows shall be used in the production of 

 milk; that no milk shall be distributed for drinking purposes from 

 cows having any kind of udder disease; that no person suffering 

 from or recovering from a contagious disease, or having direct con- 

 tact with others thus suffering shall be employed in the dairy or 

 handle the milk in any way; that the milk shall not be watered, and 

 that in washing the milk-vessels no water shall be used that is in the 

 slightest degree open to suspicion of sewage contamination. In 

 addition to these demands it must be insisted that precautions be 

 taken for excluding stable filth from the milk, and that the milk be 

 cooled at once to prevent undue growth of bacteria. 



Milk Standards. A legal standard set for the chemical com- 

 position of market milk is nearly every where adopted and does not 

 concern our immediate subject. A few cities have set a standard 

 as to the number of bacteria that will be allowed in milk offered for 

 sale. Boston has a standard of 500,000 per c.c. This has as yet 

 been done in only a few places and it is still uncertain whether such 

 standards can be enforced or are of much value. The milk pro- 

 ducer needs only to remember that, to reach these standards, he 

 must use care in the dairy to insure cleanliness along lines already 

 pointed out. Special grades of milk are becoming more or less 

 common in various localities. Sanitary dairies of exceptionally 

 high character have been conducted with more or less success. In 

 these every possible precaution is adopted to produce milk under 

 ideal conditions. Only tested and inspected cows are used, and 

 numerous devices are carried on to protect the milk from all possible 



