128 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



It will be remembered that condensed milk, unsweetened, must con- 

 tain, to meet the requirements of the Federal pure food and drugs 

 act, the same minimum percentage of solids (including milk fat) as 

 sweetened condensed milk. 



Considerable agitation has been discernible in many communities 

 concerning the relative merits of these prepared milks compared, 

 especially so far as their nutritiveness and digestibility are concerned, 

 with raw or properly pasteurized milk. It is stated by the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry that some prepared milks are not as nutritious 

 as raw or properly pasteurized milk, this depending largely upon the 

 character and method of preparation, Surg. Gen. Wyman believing 

 that the proper solution of this question involves the consideration of 

 the individual preparation. 



NUTRITIVENESS OF CONDENSED MILKS. 



According to Dr. Wyman condensed milk in the United States is 

 usually low in fat content and excessively rich in sugar. Properly 

 diluted, he says, the best grades of condensed milk ought to contain 

 the same nutriment as the original milk from which it was made, 

 plus or minus whatever is added or removed when finally put up in 

 packages. He adds the caveat, however, that this does not imply 

 the same food value as the original milk. 



It is declared by Winslow that substitutes are much more dangerous 

 for infants than pasteurized milk, while Dr. Prescott, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, asserts that condensed milk is not 

 as well balanced a ration as raw milk, since it is likely to be deficient 

 in fats. Dr. Crichton, commissioner of health of Seattle, Wash., 

 observes that most prepared milks are not as nutritious as raw or 

 properly pasteurized milk; that they are harder to digest; are cus- 

 tomarily made from inferior milk, impure in many instances, and 

 containing sugar in unknown quantities, and are consequently unsat- 

 isfactory as food for children and unappetizing and disagreeable in 

 taste. 



In comparing the nutritiveness of raw and properly pasteurized 

 milk as opposed to prepared milks, Dr. Coit, rating raw milk at 100, 

 assigns a value of 20 to condensed milk and 10 to powdered milk. 



On the other hand, Borden's Condensed Milk Co. asserts that 

 prepared milk of a recognized standard brand, manufactured and 

 cared for under conditions existing in high-grade factories, is practi- 

 cally a concentrated " properly pasteurized milk " and has all the 

 nutritive qualities of such milk. " Used in the manner in which it 

 is," states this company, " it undoubtedly is as nutritious, or at least 

 so nearly so, as to be on a most debatable ground." 



SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CONDENSED MILKS TO DETERIORATION. 



What are known as " condensed " or " evaporated " milks have 

 been somewhat largely represented in our markets for many years 

 past. These milks are customarily prepared by evaporating the 

 water from whole milk until a consistency is reached which (gen- 

 erally, though not necessarily, by the addition of sugar) tends to 

 preserve the milk, its viscosity rendering impossible the multiplica- 

 tion of pathogenic germs and effectually safeguarding the product 



