274 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



of animal products to the greatest possi- 

 ble extent consistent with human health. 

 The consumer feels that it is safe to use 

 these animal products. It assists in the 

 detection of diseases among animals and 

 prevents further loss to the farmer from 

 this source. The conscientious farmer 

 who strives to produce clean and whole- 

 some food products should protect his 

 reputation by demanding a system by 

 which his products reach the consumer 

 without deterioration. 



MILK INSPECTION 



Of all food products milk is the most 

 important. It is the natural food of 

 children and of all young mammals. The 

 conscientious farmer and dairyman de- 

 sire to produce milk of a good quality 

 and in sanitary condition. Now, milk 

 may vary considerably in composition 

 and the unscrupulous may adulterate it 

 and otherwise diminish its value or 

 render it dangerous by careless handling 

 or by the addition of certain preserva- 

 tives. It has become necessary, there- 

 fore, to establish market standards for 

 milk and to enforce these requirements 

 by a system of milk inspection. The 

 purpose, methods and effectiveness of 

 such inspection, therefore, become sub- 

 jects of interest to the farmer and re- 

 quire some discussion in this connection. 

 The milk of healthy cows comes from the 

 udder practically without bacteria, 

 molds, ferments or virus of any sort. 

 The problem is how to collect it and de- 

 liver it to the consumer without change 

 and without allowing harmful substances 

 to gain entrance to it. 



Composition of milk — Normal milk 

 contains 4 per cent albuminoids, 3.4 per 

 cent fat, 3.8 per cent sugar, 0.6 per cent 

 mineral salts and 88.2 per cent water. 

 These figures are the average from a 

 large number of analyses. The percent- 

 age of different constituents fluctuates 

 considerably according to breed, condi- 

 tion, character of food, period of lacta- 

 tion and various other factors. For ex- 

 ample, the casein may vary from 2 to 6 

 per cent, the fat from 2 to 8 per cent, or 

 even 10 per cent, and the sugar from 3 

 to 5.7 per cent. The composition of 

 milk varies at different periods of the 

 day and at different stages of the proc- 

 ess of milking. Morning's milk con- 

 tains more water than evening's milk, 

 and the strippings contain more fat than 

 the first streams. 



Thus, according to Uffelman, morn- 

 ing's milk contains 87.45 per cent water, 



evening's milk 8G.92 per cent, milk from 

 first stage of milking 1.5 per cent fat, 

 from second stage 2.37 per cent, from 

 third stage 4.1 per cent. Fresh, normal 

 cow's milk should show a neutral or 

 slightly alkaline reaction. The specific 

 gravity varies according to the composi- 

 tion, ranging from 1.029 to 1.034, with 

 an average of 1.030. The average 

 amount of fat in milk from Jerseys is 

 5.49 per cent, from Guernseys 5.28 per 

 cent, from American Holderness 3.61 per 

 cent, from Ayrshires 3.58 per cent, from 

 Holsteins 3.3 per cent, Red Polls 3.92 per 

 cent, Angus 4.9 per cent. 



Adulteration of milk — The most fre- 

 quent forms of adulteration are the de- 

 liberate addition of water, the addition 

 of skim milk and the removal of a part 

 of the cream. The general use of cream 

 separators on farms and dairies makes 

 it possible to add skim milk to the milk 

 intended for sale until the fat content of 

 the latter is lowered to the minimum re- 

 quirement of the inspector. When this 

 is done it is practically impossible to de- 

 tect the fraud. Nevertheless, extensive 

 frauds of this sort have been discovered. 

 In St. Louis, about 1,600 gallons of cream 

 per day are fraudulently removed from 

 the market milk. In the city of New 

 York analyses showed that a considerable 

 percentage of the cream is removed. 

 Most of the condensed milk companies 

 skim the milk before condensing it. The 

 removal of the fat or the addition of 

 fresh skim milk is merely a fraud and 

 does not render the milk harmful or 

 dangerous. 



The case is quite otherwise when water 

 is added. If the water be impure — and 

 the man who deliberately adds water 

 is not likely to pay much attention to the 

 quality of water — disease germs may be 

 thereby added to the milk, thus making 

 it an effective agent for the transmission 

 of infectious diseases both to children 

 and adults. When water is added the 

 percentage of non-fatty solids in the 

 milk is reduced and the fraud is easily 

 detected. From analyses made in New 

 York city, it appears that an average of 

 33 per cent of water is added to the 

 milk ; in the state of New York, from 3 

 to 25 per cent, with an average of 12 per 

 cent of water, is added. As shown by 

 Kober, a review of the evidence of milk 

 adulteration shows the .great prevalence 

 of the most shameful practices. The 

 most flagrant cases of adulteration at 



