234 SWEETENED ConpEeNSED Mik Derrers 
ance. This condition can usually be traced back to a poor qual- 
ity of fresh milk, containing too much acid. Very often, too, the 
cause lies in the factory itself, where it is due to lack of clean- 
liness. A thorough inspection of milk pipes and pumps generally 
shows accumulations of remnants of milk which get into the 
milk of the succeeding batch. Where this condition exists, it is 
noticeable that the first batch of the day contains more specks 
and lumps than the succeeding ones. ‘These lumps do not, as a 
rule, grow larger in size nor increase in number with the age of 
the condensed milk, but they injure its appearance to the eye, 
and certainly cannot add to the wholesomeness of the milk. They 
might easily be accompanied by the formation of ptomains. 
A more rigid inspection of all the fresh milk as it arrives at the 
factory and thorough scouring of all milk tanks and milk pumps, 
pipes and conveyors usually prevents the recurrence of this 
defect. 
Milk from Fresh Cows.— During early spring there is a 
strong tendency of the jacket and coils in the vacuum pan to 
become coated with a thick layer of gelatinous and lumpy milk. 
This is probably due to the fact that milk during these months 
comes largely from freshened cows and may contain some colos- 
trum milk which coagulates when subjected to heat, or that 
the proteids of milk from these fresh cows are abnormally 
sensitive to heat. This thickened material usually does not leave 
the pan until most of the condensed milk has been drawn off. 
It, therefore, appears in the last one or two cooling cans. If 
the milk in these cans is mixed with the rest of the condensed 
milk, the lumps will appear again in the tin cans. The last cans 
drawn from the pan should, therefore, be kept separate. The 
contents of these remnant cans may be redissolved in hot water 
and should be recondensed in a succeeding batch. In this way 
the manufacturer sustains practically no loss. In order to pre- 
vent these lumps from getting into the cooling cans, some fac- 
tories attach a strainer to the outlet of the pan. This practice 
is as unnecessary, as it is damaging to the milk in the pan. 
The straining greatly retards the removal of the milk from the 
pan, and the milk is held in the hot pan so long, as to cause 
partial superheating which is otherwise detrimental to its quality. 
