﻿BULLETIN OF THE 







No. 1 



Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry, A. D. Melvin, Chief 

 September 17, 1913. 



MEDICAL MILK COMMISSIONS AND 

 CERTIFIED MILK. 1 



By Ernest Kelley, 

 In Charge of Market Milk Investigations. 



THE WORK OF MILK COMMISSIONS. 



The organization of milk commissions in this country was an im- 

 portant step toward the improvement of the quality of milk. While 

 the number of commissions is very limited and the milk produced 

 under their supervision amounts to only a small proportion of the 

 milk annually consumed, the great value of certified milk to invalids 

 and its influence in reducing the mortality among infants and chil- 

 dren are beyond estimation. Further, the work of milk commissions 

 has had no little influence in improving the general milk supply of 

 cities where such commissions exist, by setting a higher standard of 

 quality and by creating public sentiment in favor of pure milk. 



THE FIRST COMMISSION: ITS ORGANIZATION AND OBJECTS. 



The beginning of this movement dates back to 1889, when the Medi- 

 cal Society of New Jersey made an effort to improve the milk produc- 

 tion in that State. A committee was appointed to make an investi- 

 gation of the milk supply as far as it affected the public health. 

 After two years' work this committee submitted a report condemning 

 many of the methods employed in the production and handling of 

 milk and advising an appeal to the State for a strict scientific super- 

 vision of all the dairies within its limits. The appeal was made, but 

 failed. While the need was admitted, the authorities pleaded lack of 

 funds for making the changes suggested. 



This effort having met with defeat, another line of work was re- 

 sorted to. The chairman, a Newark physician, presented a plan in 

 1892 to the Practitioners' Club of that city whereby physicians might 

 themselves supervise the production of milk and thus be perfectly 

 sure of its purity. The requirements for the production of certified 



1 An extensive revision of Bulletin 104, Bureau of Animal Industry, Medical Milk Com- 

 missions and the Production of Certified Milk in the United States, by C. B. Lane, 1908. 



4999°— Bull. 1—13—1 



