CHAPTER XI. 



ADULTERATION OF MILK. 



Introduction. That milk is easily contaminated and subject 

 to deleterious changes, was well known in ancient times. This 

 is proved by a reference to the Talmudic Laws, where the fol- 

 lowing statement is found : ' ' Milk is one of the beverages that 

 makes the articles of food liable to receive impurities. " (3) 



It is true that chemical preservatives were not known at that 

 time and consequently were not used. Such materials, how- 

 ever, have been used for many years in milk intended for 

 human consumption and the practice prevails to some extent 

 at the present time. 



It may be said that perhaps few- questions concerning the 

 public health have provoked more discussion or been produc- 

 tive of more experiments and investigations than that of the 

 use of preservatives in foods intended for human consum]ition. 

 It is of more than passing interest, and certainly a matter of 

 congratulation, to be able to say that the greater the advance of 

 science, the greater and more powerful is the ammunition 

 brought forward to fight, and successfully too, the advocates 

 of the use of deleterious materials in our food products. These 

 substances, as is well known, are added in many cases for the 

 purpose either of enhancing the value of poor products or 

 preventing or arresting the decay of an already unwholesome 

 food. 



The literature abounds in records of investigations of the 

 influence of preservatives on the food value of milk. For a 

 very complete bibliography of this subject, the reader is re- 

 ferred to Ka.stle and Roberts (4). 



Much has been written on both sides of this all-important 

 question. If proper care is exercised in the handling of milk 



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