Advantages of Milk Examinations. 205 



but attains even greater value for the milk industry and general 

 agriculture through the indirect advantages which result from 

 their enforcement, such as the improvement of the herds, etc. 

 Measures which are in perfect accord with the hygienic require- 

 ments of milk traffic, are at present enforced by most cities, which 

 have adopted various forms of ordinances and laws to cover this 

 subject. Some of the states and the federal government also pro- 

 vide for certain additional control. 



The milk control stations of several cities in Germany have 

 attempted to produce an improvement of the milk traffic by the 

 establishment of proper ordinances. Even the best organized 

 stations confine themselves almost entirely to the control of the 

 finished product offered for sale, and therefore they are limited 

 to the examination of samples. If the existing distribution of milk 

 and extension of deliveries in large cities are considered it would 

 require an army of officials to take samples and examine them, in 

 order to test all the milk delivered to ascertain its value as food. 



Even in the eventual centralization of the milk traffic, ap- 

 propriate examination of market milk from a hygienic standpoint 

 will be impossible, since in each shipment too many questions 

 would have to be solved, and besides this, we have not at our com- 

 mand reliable methods for examining the finished market milk 

 rapidly and thoroughly. 



The advantages of market milk examinations, which should 

 not be underestimated, consist in the fact that it is possible to 

 detect gross neglect and wilful violations, by which in many cases 

 guilty parties may be held responsible. The knowledge that he 

 is under observation, and the fear of punishment compel even the 

 most indolent milkman and dealer to give increased attention 

 to production and handling, including transportation. In some 

 cities of Germany a great deal has been accomplished in the con- 

 trol of market milk, but an effective improvement is prevented by 

 the existing methods of milk officials. Whatever has been ac- 

 complished through the control of market milk, it is slight when 

 compared with the requirements of the law and regulations. If 

 milk control is confined in a one-sided way only to adulteration, 

 preservation and to the dirt content, or to fermentation tests and 

 acid content, as they are mostly practiced, it is hardly possible to 

 expect proper improvement from a hygienic standpoint. 



Food chemists have been the chief officials engaged in milk 

 control up to the present time, since the principal stress has been 

 laid on the detection of adulteration or of attempts to improve 

 milk by the use of preservatives. The author considers it as ab- 

 solutely essential that this field of control should continue in 

 charge of chemists, since the physico-chemical properties of milk 

 require a great amount of special training if the results obtained 

 by examination are to be subjected to critical judgment. This 

 however does not infer that veterinarians, physicians or other 



