MILK AND ITS PRODUCTION FOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 



BY A. W. BITTING, M. D., INSPECTOR, CITY BOARD OF HEALTH, LABORATORY 

 OF COMPARATIVE PATHOLOGY, INDIANA AGRICUL- 

 TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Lafayette, Ind. 



There is no food product in general use that is more wholesome than 

 milk. It is palatable, easily digestible, and highly nutritious. Its nutritive 

 qualities are recognized by physicians in that they recommend it as the prin- 

 cipal article of diet for weak or sick patients suffering from almost all forms 

 of disease. Milk cannot be made the exclusive diet for the adult as it is 

 for the child but it can be made to have a much larger part in the daily 

 diet than is now given to it. By analysis it has been found that a quart of 

 milk contains essentially the same nutritive value as three-fourths of a pound 

 of steak. Upon this basis a quart of milk would have a real value of from 

 nine to twelve cents when steak has a value of from twelve to sixteen cents. 

 The price of milk, however, usually ranges from five to eight cents and the 

 greater proportion is sold for less than six and one-quarter cents. The milk 

 has an advantage over steak in that its nutrients are practically all digestible 

 while some of the nutritive qualities of the steak are lost as a result of cook- 

 ing. Records upon the cost of diets in which milk was a large factor as 

 compared with diets in which this article was practically absent, confirm 

 the results of the laboratory analysis. When the persons were using large 

 quantities of milk they used less of other and more costly materials so that 

 the result was a distinct saving. In cities milk is used more in the nature 

 of a condiment rather than as a food. It is used to season coffee and tea, 

 upon fruits, and as an adjunct to the cooking rather than as a staple article 

 of diet. A quart of milk per day is made to serve for all purposes for a 

 family of four or more persons and when the milk bill exceeds six or seven 

 cents per day they consider themselves extravagant. This feeling is so 

 deeply seated that it will be a long time before the woman who orders the 

 kitchen supplies will see the economy of ordering two quarts of milk at six 

 cents each instead of one and a half pounds of steak at sixteen cents 

 although the saving would be twelve cents. 



The very qualities which make milk such a desirable food also render 

 it undesirable from another standpoint. It is an ideal medium for the 



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