COPENHAGEN DAIRY COMPANY 485 



drink-sellers, etc., at varying prices, and under conditions of 

 hygiene and purity which left much to be desired. It was in order 

 to furnish the inhabitants of this town with pure milk, produced by 

 healthy cows, " ren mealk af sunde koer," that the Company which 

 bears the name of " Kjobenhavns Maelkeforsyning " was formed. 



The distinctive character of the " Kjobenhavns Maelkeforsy- 

 ning " lies in the fact that this Company only delivers fresh milk 

 to the consumers, that is is to say, it is neither pasteurised nor 

 sterilised. In order that milk used as a food or a remedy may not 

 cause ill results from the presence in the liquid of pathogenic 

 organisms, it should fulfil three essential conditions: (i) It should 

 be produced by cows certified as healthy by veterinary examina- 

 tion and fed in a certain way ; (2) it should be manipulated, from 

 the time of milking until its sale in a rigorously aseptic manner ; 

 (3) it should be preserved during this time by some method which 

 will render impossible the development of such bacteria as it may 

 contain. 



Source of the milk. — The Company has no farms of its own, 

 nor does it keep cows, but only acts as intermediary between the 

 producer and the consumer. All it sells is furnished by farms, 

 large and small, situated within a radius of several kilometres 

 round the town. It accepts milk from all farmers or proprietors 

 who are willing to deliver it under certain conditions, stipulated in 

 a contract which binds them to the Company. This contract 

 cannot be modified to suit any individual, and every one is bound 

 to adhere strictly to the clauses, under penalty of a fine or of 

 cancellation of the contract.^ 



The conditions, set down in the regulations, may appear 

 somewhat tyrannical, but, when it is considered that they are 

 a sure means of the Company's obtaining milk of a superior 

 quality absolutely guaranteed, they possess numerous advantages 

 for the farmer who submits to them. They oblige him to renounce 

 old-fashioned methods of feeding which are defective and unpro- 

 ductive, and to substitute those which experiment has proved to be 

 better and more renumerative ; they guard against his own 

 ignorance of matters of hygiene by forcing him to watch the 

 sanitary state of his cattle and of his staff, and thus avoid the 

 injury and loss which the appearance of any epidemic disease on 

 his farm would cause him. These conditions are, moreover, accepted 

 to-day by all Danish farmers, whether affiliated to a co-operative 

 society or not. On the strict observance of such prophylactic 

 ^ See Appendix Q, p. 589, for Contracts and Regulations. 



