CHAPTER XL 

 MILK PRESERVATIVES 



T T is a crime to add to the milk or cream any 

 ■■■ preservative. There are few, if any, that are 

 not injurious, and many are really poisonous. 

 Agents will sell a powder or solution which, if 

 used to rinse the cans, will prevent the milk from 

 souring. Surely such an argument should arouse 

 suspicion. These so-called remedies have been 

 known to contain enough formaldehyde (a poison) 

 to be dangerously harmful. 



The farmer may add a little preservative say-, 

 ing, "This pinch cannot do any harm." The 

 wholesale man, not knowing what has already 

 been done, adds his small portion; and the re- 

 tail dealer, who runs the greatest risk of the milk 

 souring, puts in an extra dose. No one is able 

 to sum up the sad results. 



When ordinary milk does not sour vunder usual 

 conditions within a reasonable time, there is some- 

 thing wrong. 



More attention is each year being given to the 

 retail milk trade. Legislative sanitary inspection 

 of the milk, cows, and stables, and the establish- 



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