MILK AND CREAM CONTESTS. 11 



ACIDITY. 



The acidity is allowed 5 points out of 100. Phenolphthalein is 

 used as an indicator, and the milk is titrated with tenth-normal 

 sodium hydroxid. The results are reduced to percentages and the 

 scores allowed according to the scale on the score card. As 0.2 per 

 cent is considered the danger line in commercial milk and cream, no 

 sample containing more than that amount of acidity is given a 

 perfect score. While such milk may taste perfectly sweet, it has been 

 found that it is usually unsafe to use it on account of the fact that it 

 is apt to turn sour very quickly. 



BOTTLE AND CAP. 



The general appearance of the sample is considered of importance 

 enough to demand an allowance of the remaining 5 points out of the 

 100. Samples should aU be submitted in regulation milk bottles, 

 and the mouth of the bottle should be thoroughly protected from 

 dust, dirty water, etc. Deductions should be made for dirty or 

 chipped bottles, or for flaws or other imperfections in the glass; for 

 metal parts, especially such as come in direct contact with the rnilk, 

 slight cuts should be made in the score. Caps should be sealed in 

 place with hot paraffin, or both cap and top of bottle covered with 

 parchment paper or other protection from water and dirt. It very 

 often happens that the caps are hastily placed in the bottles, or are 

 not of the proper size. This should be penalized, as it results in 

 leakage from the bottles as well as permitting dirty ice water, etc., to 

 seep into them. 



Bottles should be filled so that there will be no room for churning 

 during transit. Deductions should be made for violations of this 

 rule. 



EDUCATIONAL FEATURES. 



Whenever milk and cream contests are held, it is desirable to have 

 in connection therewith a meeting or a series of meetings at which 

 the subject of clean milk production is thoroughly discussed. Usu- 

 ally at least two meetings are held, one for the producers and the other 

 for consumers. At the producers' meeting the technical side of clean 

 milk production is taken up and the dairymen are shown how they 

 can improve the quality of their product. Comments are made on 

 the samples entered in the competition, and remedies for the defects 

 are suggested. At the consumers' meeting great stress is laid on the 

 fact that clean milk is more diffi.cult and expensive to produce than 

 dirty milk, and an effort is made to educate the consumer to the point 

 where he will be willuig to pay an increased price for a safer and more 

 wholesome article of food. Instruction is given to city milk consum- 



