FROM FARM TO CONSUMER 277 



run over the bottles looking for stray drops of food. I have 

 found mouse faeces in a bottle of milk, which doubtless got 

 in while the bottle was empty. Roaches and other insects 

 get into the milk bottles in a similar manner. 



The cleaning of the milk bottle is a difficult task. Where 

 large quantities are handled it is a sloppy, noisy, and dis- 

 agreeable job. One need only visit a large dairy to con- 

 vince himself that many milk bottles are returned in a 

 deplorable condition. Some of them are encrusted with a 

 film of dried and decomposed milk; some of them give evi- 

 dence of having held whiskey, gasolene, paint, turpentine, 

 carbolic acid, etc. ; some of them are very dirty. Milk bot- 

 tles may be cleaned by machinery or by hand. In either 

 case each bottle must be carefully inspected to see that 

 no visible dirt has escaped the process. 



Hand cleaning is not altogether satisfactory on account 

 of the incompetent labor usually employed for such work, 

 and also for the reason that the hands cannot stand the 

 high temperature of the water necessary to cleanse and 

 disinfect the bottles properly. In small establishments 

 children often are enlisted for this work. This adds the 

 danger of contamination with the infectious diseases of 

 childhood to the irresponsibility and incompetency of the 

 little workers. A large number of bottles are often washed 

 one after another in a tub of warm water, which soon be- 

 comes milky and a good culture medium. In any case the 

 water cannot be used hot enough, when hand methods are 

 employed, to kill germs; hence a separate disinfection must 

 be made, which, in my experience, is rarely carried out. 



Washing-machines are more or less effective — especially 

 less, owing to faulty designs and improper attention. In 

 almost all washing-machines the bottles are first douched 

 with an alkaline solution to cut the milk curds and grease; 

 they then pass to a weaker alkaline or soapy solution, and 

 finally to several changes of clear water. In many of the 

 bottle-washing machines the final water is steaming hot so 



