HOMOGENIZED MILK 399 



Homogenized milk for infant feeding has been •advocated for 

 several years and though possessing a little merit, its value has 

 been greatly over-estimated. The size of the fat globule, 

 thought to be important, has been shown to be an exceedingly 

 small factor compared with the percentage amount of fat in 

 the milk fed and its proportion to other solids. It is exceed- 

 ingly more important that the milk shall be medium to low in 

 fat than that the globules of fat be small in size. Homogenized 

 milk produces a fine flocculent curd, one which never clots into 

 the hard rubbery mass characteristic of normal milk. This pro- 

 duction of a friable curd is thought to be of more importance in 

 the digestion of the milk by the infant than the small size of 

 the fat globule. If, together with the breaking up of the fat 

 and the casein in milk, it has also been thoroughly pasteurized 

 and also kept low in fat percentage, then homogenized milk is 

 of definite value in the feeding of delicate bottle-fed infants. 



METHODS OF SELLIISTG MILK 



A milk rich in food solids is worth more per quart than that 

 which is poor ; likewise, milk which is clean is worth more than 

 dirty milk. In winter, milk is generally less abundant and 

 therefore higher in price. How to arrange sales from producer 

 to distributer with three varjdng elements and yet not make the 

 affair too complicated to be workable has long been a problem. 

 Milk is now being purchased on no less than fourteen bases, 

 ranging all the way from so much per " can," irrespective of 

 fat and bacteria content, to a plan involving three sliding scales, 

 one for cleanliness, one for fat content, and one for time of the 

 year. All three are just reasons for modifying the price, yet 

 they combine to make great complexity, which in turn makes 

 for suspicion and dissatisfaction. 



The best plan, theoretically at least, is that now being tried 

 by the Borden Milk Company, ISTew York City. For any given 

 month the price is fixed, based on Grade B milk (see Chapter 

 XXV) at say $1.75 per hundred for milk testing 3.5 per 

 cent fat; then for every tenth of a per cent increase in fat 



