376 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 976 



supply may become a source of danger to the 

 public health by being infected with the germ of 

 bovine tuberculosis, the germs of typhoid fever, 

 scarlet fever, diphtheria and tonsillitis, by having 

 in general an excessive bacterial growth and by 

 not having a proper nutritive value. In view of 

 these sources of danger, the means to be employed 

 to make public milk supplies safe are as follows: 

 (1) the prevention of adulteration; (2) the pro- 

 duction of a clean milk of low bacterial count. 

 This involves cleanliness of the cows and milkers, 

 clean barns, clean vessels, the exclusion of dust, 

 immediate reduction of temperature after milking, 

 icing during transportation, the sale in sanitary 

 stores; (3) the production of milk free from 

 pathogenic organisms, involving the prevention of 

 the introduction of infectious disease through hu- 

 man agencies, flies and dust. The general milk 

 supply of every large city is uniit for use in infant 

 feeding, and as the attempt to bring the general 

 market milk to the degree of purity required for 

 infant feeding can never be successful, the only 

 way in which sanitary authorities can meet exist- 

 ing conditions is by requiring the pasteurization 

 of all milk which is not of special grades. The 

 official classification of milk in New York City is 

 as follows: 



Grade A : 



1. Certified. 

 Guaranteed. 



2. Inspected milk (raw). 



3. Selected milk (pasteurized). 

 Grade B : 



1. Selected milk (raw). 



2. Pasteurized milk. 

 Grade C: 



For cooking. 



The following changes are under consideration: 

 (1) the elimination of Grade B (raw) entirely, 

 and requiring it to be pasteurized; (2) the elim- 

 ination entirely of Grade C from the retail trade; 

 (3) an increase in the requirements for milk 

 intended for pasteurization. 



Prohlems in Sanitary Dairy Inspection: H. A. 



Harding. 



Milk resembles the human race in that its value 

 is determined by two forces, its inheritance and 

 its environment. Inheritance fixes the amount of 

 solids which is normal to the milk. The other 

 elements of its food value are determined by the 

 environment under which it is produced and 

 handled. The problem in sanitary dairy inspec- 

 tion is to provide an inspection which affects the 

 selling price of the milk. This can probably be 



best accomplished by establishing market grades 

 of milk and by defining these grades in terms of 

 the conditions surrounding the production and 

 transportation of the milk. The value of this 

 financial element in sanitary milk inspection is 

 well illustrated by the Geneva milk supply. In 

 October, 1907, all of the milk coming to this city 

 was graded on the basis of the conditions rmder 

 which it was produced. It was found that the 

 conditions of the production of 37.5 per cent, were 

 poor, 57.5 per cent, were medium and 5 per cent, 

 were good. The conditions then changed so that 

 the producers were paid on a sliding scale, making 

 it more profitable to produce the better grades of 

 milk. In March, 1911, the milk supply of the city 

 graded on the same basis as above was 87.5 per 

 cent, good and 12.8 per cent, excellent. Condi- 

 tions again changed so that there was no longer 

 this direct connection between the conditions sur- 

 rounding production and the price received, and 

 in October, 1912, the city supply on the same 

 basis as the above was 81.5 per cent, medium, 15.7 

 per cent, good and 2.6 per cent, excellent. Farmers 

 have a better financial sense than is generally sup- 

 posed and sanitary milk will not be produced on a 

 large scale until its production becomes financially 

 more profitable than that of the dirtier grades. 

 Details are given in Bulletin of New YorTc Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. 



Notes on Yeast-like Organisms in Whey: S. F. 



Edwards, Bacteriological Laboratory, Ontario 



Agricultural College. 



During the summer of 1909 some work was 

 begun on the problem of so-called fruity flavor or 

 sweet flavor in cheese in western Ontario. The 

 trouble was supposedly due to yeasts or yeast-like 

 organisms. Samples of whey were secured from 

 twenty-five factories where this flavor was preva- 

 lent, and from these samples twelve varieties of 

 yeast-like organisms were isolated. Some of the 

 yeasts (so-called) were found in the whey from 

 more than one factory, and some factories had 

 several varieties in the whey. Three lots of ex- 

 perimental cheese were made up, using a starter 

 of these organisms, and the flavors typical of dif- 

 ferent factories were produced, whereas no off- 

 flavor was present in normal control cheese. These 

 organisms have been retained in the laboratory 

 and further study has been made as the time per- 

 mitted. The term yeast is a misnomer, for with 

 but one exception we have been unable to demon- 

 strate spore production. Very little attention has 

 been given to morphology, sole dependence for dif- 



