84 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



The reasonableness of exacting a temperature that shall not exceed 

 50 F. is confirmed by the practice in such advanced communities as 

 New York and Boston, the regulations of each of which cities specify 

 a maximum temperature of 50 F., while Chicago enjoins a tempera- 

 ture of 45 F. or less. 



The committee has weighed with the utmost care and deliberation 

 the probable effect of compulsorily maintaining a temperature of 

 50 F. or less from the time of milking to the actual moment of 

 delivery to the consumer, for it is recognized that the initiation of 

 such a requirement will necessarily compel every dairyman to install 

 on his farm a suitable icehouse, with facilities for carrying a suffi- 

 cient store of ice to maintain the milk below the prescribed maximum 

 temperature during the season from April 1 to December 1 of each 

 year. If this proposal were merely the result of a theoretical step 

 toward the improvement of the milk supply, the committee would 

 have more hesitancy in coming to a conclusion in the matter, but it is 

 so clearly convinced that pathogenic bacteria proliferate with as- 

 tounding rapidity when milk is allowed to attain a temperature of 

 even 2 or 3 degrees in excess of 50 F. that it is indispensably neces- 

 sary, in its judgment, in the interest of the public health, that this 

 requirement be gradually put into force, notwithstanding its material 

 bearing as respects increased outlay on the part of the producer, and 

 with the fullest consciousness of the great benefit which will inure 

 from the enforcement of this perhaps seemingly onerous exaction. 



The requirement that milk be kept at a temperature below 50 F. 

 should likewise be rigorously enforced with reference to hotels, lunch 

 rooms, cafes, and other public places where milk is consumed as a 

 beverage in its raw or pasteurized state. 



It has been claimed that, owing to the germicidal qualities of raw 

 milk, the number of bacteria is reduced when kept under certain con- 

 ditions of temperature free from contamination, which contention is 

 advocated in defense of raw milk as opposed to pasteurized milk. Dr. 

 Park, who studied this question in 1901, concluded that freshly drawn 

 milk contains a slight and variable amount of chemical substances 

 which are capable of inhibiting bacterial growth, and that at tem- 

 peratures under 50 F. these substances act efficiently for from 12 to 

 24 hours, provided the milk be not filthy, but that at higher tempera- 

 tures the inhibiting effect of these chemical substances is very soon 

 completely negatived and the bacteria in milk maintained at such 

 temperatures will then rapidly increase. Thus the bacteria in fresh 

 milk which originally proved 5,000 per cubic centimeter, decreased to 

 2,400 in the portion 'kept at 42 F. for 24 hours, but raised to 7,000 

 in that kept at 50 F., to 280,000 in that kept at 65 F., and to 

 12,500,000,000 in that portion kept at 95 F. This intelligent deduc- 

 tion emphasizes the extreme importance of keeping milk at tempera- 

 tures below 50 F. 



NECESSITY FOR ADEQUATE REFRIGERATOR-CAR SERVICE. 



With regard to the objection raised by the producers and dealers to 

 the proposal that all milk supplied to the District of Columbia be 

 required to be maintained at a temperature not exceeding 50 F. 

 from the time of milking until the actual delivery to the consumer, 



