THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 327 



6. Milk should always be cooled as soon as strained. If modern apparatus 

 for airing and cooling at the same time is not at hand, the milk should be 

 aired by tipping the covers slightly while cooling the milk to 50 F. in clean 

 ice water. Precautions should always be taken to see that the water is above 

 the milk to be cooled in the cans and that the water can not overflow into the 

 cans and water the milk. 



7. Never ship a can containing warm milk which has not been cooled and 

 aerated. 



8. If the milk is held at the farm it should be stored in fresh, cold ice 

 water or kept in a running spring. 



9. The milk should always be kept under shelter so that the rain can not get 

 into the cans. 



10. Never mix fresh warm milk with that which has been cooled. 



11. During the transportation of the milk and cans to the car or dairy, cov- 

 ered wagons only should be used. If this is not possible the cans should be 

 protected from heat, cold, dust, and mud by a clean canvas or blanket. 



12. All milk must be rapidly cooled and continuously maintained at a tem- 

 perature below 50 F. 



OFFICE OF INSPECTOR OF MILK, 



Providence, R. I. 

 To milk producers: 



The department of milk inspection, with the cooperation of milk producers, 

 hopes to improve the sanitary conditions existing at the dairy farms from which 

 our city supply is obtained. To accomplish this end and to assist milk pro- 

 ducers in removing objectionable features, the department has adopted a dairy 

 score card, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, a copy of 

 which is inclosed. In the near future agents of this department will visit all 

 dairy farms from which milk is shipped to Providence and score them in 

 accordance with the adopted score card. It will be to your advantage to make 

 such changes as will enable you to obtain as high a score as possible. 

 Very respectfully, 



WALTER O. SCOTT, Inspector of Milk. 



DEPARTMENT OF MILK INSPECTION, 



Providence, R. I. 

 To milk dealers and milk producers: 



The department of milk inspection has adopted regulations intended to pro- 

 hibit the sale in the city of Providence of milk which contains an unnecessary 

 or dangerous number of bacteria. 



The investigations of the department have shown that milk properly col- 

 lected and handled does not contain a large or dangerous number of bacteria. 

 This circular is issued so that those who are interested in the production and 

 sale of milk may adopt such precautions as are necessary to prevent the milk 

 being condemned, because it has been rendered unfit for use by the growth of 

 large numbers of bacteria in it. 



BACTERIA AND THEIR GROWTH IN MILK. 



Bacteria are among the smallest and simplest of all living things. They 

 much resemble the cells of which plants are composed, and, like plants, require 

 moisture, warmth, and food to grow. When these conditions are present they 

 multiply very rapidly, so that from one germ a few hundred may be produced 

 in an hour, millions in 12 hours, and billions in a day. 



As bacteria increase in numbers, they gather nourishment from the milk or 

 other substances in which they develop, and, like other higher forms of life, 

 transform what they take into their bodies into useless or poisonous products. 

 They thus both rob the food of its nutritious substances and add others to it 

 which are more or less poisonous. Thus, milk becomes sour through the change 

 of its milk sugar into acid, produced by bacteria. But long before milk be- 

 comes sour to the taste it may contain enormous numbers of bacteria and has 

 already become unwholesome and dangerous when employed for food, especially 

 for young children. 



