68 THE MODERN MILK PROBLEM 



effect, certified milk is the highest quality of raw milk, 

 from tuberculin-tested cows, the bacteria count being 

 limited to 10,000 per cubic centimeter. The total 

 production of certified milk is estimated at 25,000 

 gallons daily; this, however, is but a drop in the bucket, 

 for even in the large cities where certified milk is es- 

 tablished it constitutes less than one per cent of the 

 total milk supply. 



The certified milk idea was, until recent years, un- 

 disputedly predominant in the clean milk movement 

 and so has served its purpose. In the solution of the 

 general milk problem, however, certified milk plays 

 little part. Its market will continue to be restricted 

 and its quantity small because of the high price at 

 which it must be sold, and vice versa. This price aver- 

 ages 14 cents as against an average for ordinary market 

 milk of about 8 cents. While some of the excess may 

 be due to lack of business methods among producers, 

 it is chiefly necessitated by the expense of special equip- 

 ment and methods and by the small scale of production. 

 It is, of course, true that if certified milk were more 

 widely used, some elements in its cost such as super- 

 vision and distribution would be cheapened, but the 

 price must evidently always be decidedly higher than 

 that of a widely used market milk. 



States. On the part of the medical milk commissions the object is 

 simply to insure, through special encouragement, a clinically satis- 

 factory class of milk. Over sixty commissions have been established, 

 though nearly one-third of the number have become inactive. A 

 general organization exists in the American Association of Medical 

 Milk Commissions, which has formulated methods and standards for 

 the production and distribution of certified milk. The producers have 

 also organized themselves in an Association. 



