542 THE CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY 



twenty minutes. The bottles have been previously sterilised at 

 220° F. for sixty minutes, 



5. After sterilisation the milk is cooled to 53° F. and kept at 

 that temperature till required for delivery. 



We have examined this milk chemically and bacteriologically, 

 and have found it to be of excellent quality. It is unquestionably 

 an advantage to have milk which is to be sterilised, brought under 

 treatment at once after milking. This cannot always be done, and 

 hence it is the custom of some dairy companies and institutions 

 (to which reference has been made) to sterilise milk on its delivery. 

 There are a large number of appliances and different forms of 

 apparatus now on the market, having for their object the sterilisa- 

 tion of milk. Our object has not been the recommendation of 

 any special apparatus or process, but an explanation of the 

 principles underlying the efficient pasteurisation and sterilisation 

 of milk. 



The retail sale of milk, etc. — Much still remains to be done 

 to improve the conditions under which milk is sold by retail in 

 milk-shops, hawked in the streets on milk-barrows, or stored in 

 the house. It is unnecessary to say that it is of great importance 

 that milk should only be stored in sanitary premises, where no 

 effluvia or contamination may gain access to it. Further, it should 

 be stored in clean-covered vessels in a cool place, free from dust. 

 If it is necessary to sell milk from counter-pans, such vessels 

 should be kept scrupulously clean, and always covered with a 

 muslin or other light cover. The counter-pan should be cleansed 

 daily with boiling water or steam. The " dippers " and other 

 cans and utensils used in manipulating the milk should be 

 treated in the same way. The whole milk-shop should be 

 maintained in a strictly clean manner. Dust and flies are the two 

 chief agencies of pollution of milk in milk-shops and in the house, 

 and measures should be directed towards reducing such agencies 

 to a minimum. Cases of infectious disease, sore throat, epidemic 

 diarrhoea, etc., occurring at the milk-shop should be at once 

 reported to the Sanitary Authority, 



The education of the public, and particularly of girls and young 

 women, as to the importance of a pure milk supply, and the 

 necessity of feeding infants on clean milk from clean milk bottles, 

 should not be any longer neglected. Such education in elementary 

 schools and in the homes of the people is an important measure 

 of preventive medicine, and one likely to yield beneficial 

 results. 



