THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 117 



pour out only the amount which will be consumed at one meal ; care- 

 fully wipe or rinse the bottle, especially its mouth, before pouring 

 milk from it ; see that dust or dirt which may have gathered thereon 

 or on the cap will not get into the milk; do not pour back into the 

 bottle milk which has been exposed to the air by being placed in other 

 vessels; keep the bottle covered with the paper cap as long as milk 

 is in it and when not actually pouring from it ; do not expose uncov- 

 ered milk in the refrigerator; if the paper cap has been mutilated, 

 cover the bottle with an inverted tumbler. Keep the refrigerator 

 clean and sweet ; see that the outlet for water formed by the melting 

 ice is kept open and that the space under the ice rack is clean. The 

 refrigerator should be scalded each week. 



As soon as the milk bottle is empty rinse it in lukewarm water and 

 place it in an inverted position to drain. Do not use it for any other 

 purpose than for milk. 



All utensils with which milk comes in contact should be rinsed, 

 washed, and scalded every time they are used; do not employ for 

 this purpose dishwater which has been used for washing other utensils 

 or wipe them with an ordinary dish towel it is better to boil them in 

 clean water and set them away undried. 



Remember that exposure of milk to open air invites contamination, 

 not only from odors and bacteria-laden dust, but also from flies, 

 which scavengers are a prolific source of contagion in conveying 

 germs of typhoid fever and other diseases from the sick room or from 

 excreta to the milk. 



Do not keep milk over 24 hours even if it seems to be sweet, since 

 milk may become unfit for human food and deleterious to health be- 

 fore it sours. 



The foregoing suggestions should be observed with regard to 

 pasteurized milk, as well as with ordinary raw milk, for while effi- 

 cient pasteurization destroys disease germs and affords a safeguard 

 against certain dangers, it can not be regarded as an insurance against 

 future contamination of milk. 



To the foregoing might appropriately be added the following : 



Do not boil the milk that is to say, allow it to attain a temperature 

 as high as 212 F. since the milk is devitalized thereby, and not only 

 its nutrition but its digestibility is impaired. 



Do not allow the milk to stand in the kitchen, where the tempera- 

 ture is likely to increase rapidly. 



Do not mix " old " and " new " milk together ; that is to say, do 

 not subject the new supply to contamination with the increased num- 

 ber of bacteria which may be expected to exist in the supply pre- 

 viously received. 



If a case of typhoid fever or other contagious disease breaks out 

 in your house notify the health authorities (through your physician) 

 at once, and also your milkman. During such illness do not allow 

 the dairyman to take away milk bottles from your house until after 

 recovery of the patient, since one of these bottles might otherwise be 

 the means of carrying the disease to some other household. 



It should be recognized as the duty of every householder, especially 

 of every parent, to ascertain at the health department in the District 

 Building the record of the dairyman from whom his or her supply of 



