PRESERVATION OF MILK AND ITS TREATMENT 95 



The author has proposed the following regulations for the milk 

 supply of Copenhagen 1 : (1) The milk trade of Copenhagen 

 should be concentrated in the hands of a few authorised firms 

 possessing the proper equipment and managed by competent 

 experts, such dairies to be under municipal control in all details. 

 (2) The prices paid for milk by the dairies to the producers, as well 

 as the prices paid by the consumers to the dairies, should depend 

 on the hygienic qualities of the milk, its cleanness, keeping 

 qualities and fat content. (3) All persons having anything to do 

 with the milk up to bottling should be under medical supervision, 

 and the herds from which the milk is derived should be under 

 effective veterinary supervision. (4) At the dairies, samples from 

 each farmer should be taken at least once a week to be tested by 

 the reductase and fermenting test, and analysed for fat ; these 

 tests should be carried out by impartial persons appointed by the 

 municipality in conjunction with a representative of the dairy. 

 (5) According to the results of the reductase and fermenting test, 

 the milk should be graded into four classes (see p. 170), the 

 standard price to be that of second grade milk with 3-3 per cent, 

 of fat (the average fat percentage in Copenhagen milk) . First grade 

 milk to command a higher prfte, and third and fourth grade milk 

 lower prices, a certain bonus or deduction being calculated for 

 each tenth per cent, of fat over or under the average. (6) First 

 and second grade milk, sold for direct consumption, should be 

 pasteurised by the low temperature process ; third and fourth 

 grade milk, which should only be sold for cooking and baking, 

 should be pasteurised at a high temperature. (7) After pasteuri- 

 sation all milk should be cooled to about 4 C., and kept on ice or 

 in refrigerators during transit or in the shops. It should be 

 plainly marked with the name of the dairy, its grade and fat 

 percentage, as well as the date of pasteurisation ; it should not be 



feared that any attempts to effect improvement of milk by stimulating 

 competition, as suggested by Professor Orla Jensen, would prove abortive, 

 owing to the absence of any real competition in many parts of the country, 

 and that the grading of milk by legalised standards will prove the only 

 remedy for the unsatisfactory state of affairs. The enhanced market value 

 of milk only gives emphasis to the necessity for cleaner handling and 

 scientific treatment, and it is most unsatisfactory from the point of view of 

 the public that the enormous increase in price has not been accompanied by 

 any improvement in quality. The best example of what may be achieved 

 under climatic conditions often worse than those of the United Kingdom is 

 to be seen in the American Bacteriological Standards for Milk (U.S. Public 

 Health Reports, Reprint No. 192). Here the regulation of the market 

 value of milk according to its bacteriological condition receives the atten- 

 tion which it deserves. Standards for certified special milk are often as 

 low as 10,000 bacteria per cubic centimetre, and in many of the large towns 

 the standards for raw milk are 500,000 bacteria -per cubic centimetre, or 

 even less. Translator. 



1 " Ugeskrift for Laeger," No. 16, 1919. 



