IQ2 PRACTICAL DAIRY BACTERIOLOGY 



It is claimed that pasteurization slightly reduces the digestibility 

 of milk and hence should not be compulsory. 



It is also urged that pasteurization will set a premium upon 

 carelessness and render nugatory all attempts to improve the 

 conditions in the dairies. If the dairyman knows that the bac- 

 teria which get into his milk will be killed by heat before the 

 milk reaches the consumer, he will inevitably take less pains 

 to keep them out, and consequently the dairies will fall back 

 again into the condition of slovenliness from which they have 

 been slowly emerging. Such a result is certainly not to be 

 desired, and this is a valid argument against compulsory pas- 

 teurization, although it may be a question whether it is not bet- 

 ter to have dirty milk rendered safe by pasteurization than clean 

 milk that may contain tuberculosis and occasionally typhoid 

 fever bacilli. 



For these reasons the question of the wisdom of compulsory 

 pasteurization is still unanswered. As yet, it is not anywhere 

 adopted as a public measure, although not a few milk companies 

 have adopted it as a means of protecting their milk from souring, 

 frequently not informing their patrons of the fact. Compulsory 

 public pasteurization is being strongly urged in some places, 

 and it may possibly be the coming method of procedure. 



