166 MILK HYGIENE 



systematic inspection of all dairy herds, excepting in 

 Massachusetts, where the inspection is made for the pur- 

 pose of controlling bovine tuberculosis. A number of 

 cities, on the other hand, require periodical inspection 

 of the herds from which they obtain their milk supply. 

 L. P.] 



The control to which a number of large milk com- 

 panies have submitted voluntarily, either from philan- 

 thropic motives or because driven to it by competition, 

 consists chiefly in frequent, regular visits from vet- 

 erinarians to the milk producing herds, during which 

 not only the conditions of health of the cows but also 

 their food, the cleanliness of the stables, the handling 

 of the milk, and the health of the milkers are the objects 

 of a more or less effective supervision. Some establish- 

 ments have provided a separate organization for super- 

 vising the health of the employees. It is self-evident 

 that the methods of such companies, however good their 

 private supervision may be, must be subject to the supe- 

 rior control of health officers. 



[It will be observed that the author dwells not so 

 much on the importance of the recognition of infective 

 organisms in milk as on their exclusion. Unquestion- 

 ably it is infinitely better, from the standpoint of the 

 public health^ to prevent the contamination of milk than, 

 by means of laboratory examination, to discover evi- 

 dences of contamination in a sample representing a 

 quantity of milk that has already been consumed. 



Milk is not a food that is kept long ; it cannot be put 

 away in storage until a sanitary examination has been 

 made, and then released for consumption, or destroyed, 

 according to the result of the examination. Only the 

 briefest inspections can be made while the milk is en 

 route from the producer to the consumer. 



The supply continues as a flowing stream, and is 



