270 THE MILK QUESTION 



ably quite as active as they were before the freezing process. 

 Ice cream is sometimes kept an unduly long time before it is 

 sold, and sometimes it is re-frozen after it has been handled 

 and exposed. There are many other indictments which the 

 sanitarian could draw up against ice cream, including im- 

 pure flavoring and coloring matters, and sophistication of 

 various kinds. Wherever the industry has been investi- 

 gated it has been found full of abuses and faults. 



Butter. Butter, like the cream from which it is made, 

 contains bacteria and infection in excessive numbers or 

 concentrated form. It has been shown that typhoid bacilli, 

 tubercle bacilli, diphtheria bacilli, etc., may live for months 

 in butter. Butter is often made from cream that is not 

 commercially valid as such; in other words, it is one of the 

 good uses to which bad cream can be put. It may be made 

 from fresh cream or ripened cream. "Ripening" consists 

 in allowing bacteria to grow in the cream, for the purpose 

 of rendering churning easier and for the purpose of develop- 

 ing flavors. Cultures of certain bacteria added to the cream 

 develop flavors that are highly prized. 



Butter usually is salted. The salt helps to preserve it 

 and also disguises beginning rancidity. Sweet, unsalted 

 butter made from perfectly fresh cream is a delicacy in 

 Europe and is gaining ground in this country. It deserves 

 encouragement. 



Butter is renovated in a number of different ways. 

 Sometimes it is simply boiled, and the resulting product 

 will keep a long time. This peculiar form of butter, called 

 "ghee," is commonly used in India and Central Asia. 

 Another way of renovating butter that has become rancid 

 is to wash it with* fresh skim milk. This takes away the 

 rancid taste. Such butter is sometimes sold as fresh cream- 

 ery prints. 



Butter usually has a pure white color, except in the spring- 

 time when the cows feed in the fields. Then it has a golden 

 yellow hue. In this country butter almost always contains 



