CLEAN MILK 151 



Requirements for the production of certified milk. The 

 following definition of certified milk and the conditions 

 and requirements of its production, which I prepared in 

 collaboration with Professor R. A. Pearson, Commissioner 

 of Agriculture of the State of New York, for submission 

 to the Certified Milk Producers' Association of America 

 and the American Association of Medical Milk Commis- 

 sions, gives the general requirements and special conditions 

 required for the production of certified milk. This matter 

 is given in some detail for the reason that certified milk 

 represents the highest quality of milk possible to produce, 

 and it is the ideal towards which all milk production should 

 aim. 1 The following details therefore represent the best 

 dairy practice: 



Certified milk is fresh, clean, pure, normal milk, of uniform 

 composition and highest quality, obtained from healthy cows; 

 produced and handled, under the supervision of a medical milk 

 commission, with special sanitary precautions in accordance with 

 the following general requirements and special conditions: 



GENERAL REQUIREMENTS 



Certified milk shall be produced by a trustworthy dairyman in 

 accordance with a code of requirements prescribed by a medical 

 milk commission. The dairyman shall enter into a legal contract 

 with the commission, in which he shall agree to comply with all 

 its requirements. 



Certified milk shall be obtained from healthy, tuberculin- 

 tested cows under veterinary inspection; all persons who directly 

 or indirectly come in contact with the milk shall be under medi- 

 cal supervision; and the milk itself shall be subjected to periodical 

 bacteriological, chemical, and other tests. 



Certified milk should be free from harmful germs and shall con- 

 tain relatively few of the common bacteria. It should not con- 



1 The American Association of Medical Milk Commissions have just 

 published " Methods and Standards for the Distribution of Certified 

 Milk," Public Health Reports, xxvii, no. 24, June 14, 1912. This official 

 publication is a comprehensive and detailed statement, containing all 

 essential facts. 



