4 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. IQI4. 



In the season of 191 3 the inspectors were asked to get con- 

 siderable information in regard to the sanitation problem in 

 connection with the bottlers, including the character of the 

 water supply and its treatment, the treatment of the empty 

 bottles before tbey were filled, the condition of the premises, 

 whether or not a foam producer was used, whether any sweet- 

 ener except sugar was used, all data in regard to preserva- 

 tives used in the goods, and character of the labeling in each 

 case. For the most part these data were completel}^ gathered 

 and reported by the inspectors. Some of the bottlers were 

 visited several times during the summer, but most of them were 

 visited only once. It is believed that the table which accom- 

 panies this article includes every bottler in the State. 



The first column after the name has to do with the water 

 supply. It is to be noted that most of the water used is the 

 city or town supply and, of course, the water is no better 01 

 no worse than that which is used for ordinary domestic pur- 

 poses in the city. Some times this water is filtered, some of it 

 is strained through cheesecloth or othei^ material. Some of 

 the bottlers are particularly careful as to the quality of* the 

 water they use. Some of them, even those that are using 

 spring water, are entirely ignorant oi the quality of the water 

 which they are using. At one time there was more or less of 

 a general belief that carbonated beverages did not carry living 

 bacteria, but investigations have shown that the carbonating 

 of water does not kill bacteria. 



The next column which includes the treatment of the bottles 

 is perhaps the most important one. It will be noted that in 

 some cases the bottlers claim that they use hot and even boiling 

 water to cleanse the bottles. In one case the claim was made 

 that steam was used to sterilize. In many cases warm to hot 

 water is used. In most cases the bottles are put on a machine 

 v/hich carries a revolving brush, and in almost all cases the 

 bottles are rinsed afterwards usually in cold water. When the 

 conditions under which the empty bottles are returned to the, 

 bottlers is considered it would seem as though an efficient system 

 of sterilization ought to be insisted upon. Some of the bot- 

 tlers have claimed that such a treatment would break a large 

 number of bottles, but that does not seem to be borne out by 



