BITTER MILK 69 



present in surface waters. Bouska broke off a sliver from a 

 water tank which, when put into milk, inoculated it with an 

 organism that produced ropiness. The very fact that milk_ 

 dealers in cities are occasionally troubled with this sliminess in 

 milk indicates that precautions are essential in order to avoid the 

 presence of this ferment. The germ, when it once gains 

 entrance to a milk establishment, is very difficult to eradicate. 

 In order to overcome the trouble it may be necessary to cover 

 the whole inside of the milk-store, and all of the vessels used 

 for handling the milk, with sour coagulated milk. The lactic 

 acid germs present in this milk gain ascendency over the germs 

 causing sliminess and in that way the trouble may be eradicated. 



Streptococcus hollandicus l is another species which produces 

 sliminess in milk. It differs from the ferment mentioned above 

 in that it grows in the absence of air and produces acid. It is 

 used in Holland, in the preparation of the slimy whey (lange 

 Wei) starter which is added to milk used in the manufacture 

 of Edam cheese, just as we use a pure culture lactic acid 

 starter in connection with Cheddar cheese-making. 



Sometimes milk is slimy when drawn from the cow most 

 frequently when there is inflammation of the udder. There 

 are, in such cases, no bacteria present in the milk as the cause 

 of the ropy or slimy condition. We quote Russell and Hast- 

 ings: " The direct cause of the abnormal condition in milk is 

 the presence of fibrin and white corpuscles from the blood, which 

 form masses of slimy material; in such cases the trouble does 

 not increase in intensity with age, nor can it be propagated by 

 transference to another sample of fresh milk." 



Bitter Milk. This is one of the most common kinds of abnor- 

 mal milk, and like some of the others, may have more than one 

 cause. It may be due to some undesirable food that the cow has 

 eaten, or to the development of certain germs in the milk. If 

 caused by the food eaten by the cow, the bitter taste is recog- 

 nizable immediately after the milk has been drawn. If it develops 

 on letting the milk stand, it is caused by bacterial growth. 



Several germs have been found to be associated with the pro- 



1 Milch Zeit, 1889, p. 982. 



