THE CERTIFIED MILK PACKAGE. 167 



milk. Routine tests for specific gravity should be carried out 

 as a check against gross adulterations. 



Medical inspection. The health of employees and of their 

 families offers an important field for the exercise of precau- 

 tionary measures. In some cases, a weekly postal card report 

 concerning health conditions is required of the dairy super- 

 intendent. The use of diphtheria swab examinations to 

 detect carriers of diphtheria infection about a dairy has not 

 been adopted, but might well be seriously considered. The 

 possibility that ' ' carriers ' ' of both typhoid fever and diphtheria 

 bacilli may work about a dairy without recognition by an ordi- 

 nary examination is a troublesome feature. 



The certified milk package. The fundamental idea in the 

 delivery of certified milk is to have the milk bottles sealed at 

 the dairy and marked with a device indicating the approval of 

 the commission. The Brooklyn commission sells the dairy- 

 men bottle caps bearing a certification label, and illegitimate 

 use of them may be prevented by taking care that the consump- 

 tion of caps does not exceed the output of the certified herd. 

 After the caps are affixed in the bottles, a layer of paraffin is 

 placed over the cap and before it cools an impression is made 

 with a rubber stamp, marking the date upon which the milk 

 is to be sold and used. The stamps are the jiroperty of the 

 commission, and contain certain private marks by which the 

 experts of the commission may recognize the impression. The 

 stamps are assigned to different dairymen from time to time. 

 Other commissions issue slips bearing a statement concerning 

 certification, which are issued to the dairymen and placed over 

 the paper cap. Such a slip bears information as follows ; 



ST. LOUIS PURK MILK COMMISSION. 

 JIiLK Commission Certificate. 



Date 



Milk or cream from the dairy of, and the 



<lairy itself have been recently examined by the experts of the Commis- 

 sion and found to be up to the required standards of excellence. Another 

 examination will be made within a month, ami, if satisfactory, new labels 

 for the bottles will be i.ssued dateil (Notice the date. ; 



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