COMMUNITY SANITATION 



413 



There is much danger also in food that has reached or 

 is approaching the spoiling point. Overripe fruit or 

 decayed vegetables and fish are frequent causes of bowel 

 troubles and ptomaine poisoning, ptomaines being the 

 poisons or toxins produced in the decay of nitrogenous 

 foodstuffs. The evils arising from tainted food are preva- 

 lent in hot weather when the housewife " economizes " 

 by using " left overs " of various foods in which the heat 

 and moisture have already aided in the growth of bacteria. 

 The garbage can is the safest place for food about which 

 there is the slightest suspicion. 



Danger in Milk. In discussing the dangers arising 

 from impure foods, milk may be considered separately 

 because of the great ease with 

 which it is infected. It is 

 classed as one of the most 

 frequent distributors of dis- 

 ease germs. Many epidemics 

 of scarlet fever, typhoid fever, 

 and diphtheria, have been due 

 to contaminated milk. The 

 milk becomes infected either 

 at the home of the dairyman, 

 or through bottles which have 

 been returned from homes where there is disease, and 

 have not been thoroughly sterilized. The only safe plan 

 in the latter case is for the dairyman to refuse to accept 

 milk receptacles from homes where there is a contagious 

 disease until after the quarantine is lifted. Even after 

 that time there is danger that the proper care has not been 

 taken to render the bottles free from germs. 



The dairy from which our milk comes should be visited 

 by a health officer, who should see that the place is 



FIG. 364. Milking Time in a Clean 

 Barn. 



