10 MILK HYGIENE 



sample of milk is unwholesome, milk control can not be 

 restricted to a simple inspection of the milk or to taking 

 a sample for further examination. To insure real 

 safety, the inspection must be broadened to cover the 

 health and feeding of the cattle, the cleanliness of the 

 producing plant, the method of handling and caring for 

 the milk and the condition of health of the people who 

 come in contact with it. Milk control is, for the reason 

 stated, more difficult and more expensive than, for 

 example, meat inspection, and this is undoubtedly one 

 of the principal reasons why the control of milk produc- 

 tion and the milk trade is so defective in most countries. 



During recent years, a somewhat comprehensive con- 

 trol of the milk trade in its various relations has been 

 carried out in a number of large cities, but a thoroughly 

 satisfactory system does not exist and will be difficult 

 to establish on account of its cost. In Denmark, a 

 long step has been taken in the matter of milk control 

 through the voluntary initiative of a single large com- 

 pany which, at a time when milk hygiene was receiving 

 little attention, inaugurated a very comprehensive 

 system of control, and thereby set an example that has 

 been followed by other large companies, not only in 

 Copenhagen but also in foreign countries. These com- 

 panies have, in some respects, carried their control to 

 a point far beyond that contemplated at the time by 

 the public authorities. 



Copenhagen is on the point of supplementing its 

 health laws in relation to the milk trade within its 

 limits. 



As it is chiefly through the work of Veterinarians 

 that meat inspection has gradually increased and is now 

 conducted in a scientific manner, so, to a large extent, 

 we have to thank the Veterinarians for the fact that 

 the control of the production and sale of milk is grow- 



