CERTIFIED MILK 497 



tified milk in every respect can be produced at relatively small 

 cost. The investment need not be as large as is usually taken for 

 granted. With the development of this aspect of the question 

 the price of certified milk will gradually come within the reach of 

 the poorer classes. The writer had occasion to visit a dairy in 

 southern Wisconsin where milk was produced under conditions 

 acceptable to a medical milk commission. The bacterial counts 

 of 17 tests made during the summer months averaged 2553 per 

 cubic centimeter. Six of the counts were below 1000 and only 

 one was 14,400. The counts were made after three days' incuba- 

 tion at room temperature. Higher counts are obtained by this 

 method of incubation than by the accepted two days' incubation 

 at 37° C. The whole equipment of this dairy, exclusive of land 

 and cattle, cost about $1630. This sum does not cover the cost 

 of the original old-fashioned building, but does include the im- 

 provements necessary to make the stable acceptable to the de- 

 mands of the commission. It was a small dairy with a herd of 

 30 cows and a daily production of 250 quarts of milk. The milk 

 was sold with a fair profit at 6 cents a quart to a distributing 

 dairy, which marketed the milk and paid the expense of certi- 

 fication. Naturally, the larger the herd, the more difficult it is 

 to efficiently supervise all operations of milk production. Medical 

 milk commissions can do much to encourage certified milk produc- 

 tion b}'- relieving producers from the necessity of investing capital 

 in superfluous equipment. 



The movement has received much support by the foundation 

 in 1907 of the Association of Medical Milk Commissions. In 

 the following year the Certified Milk Producers' Association was 

 organized. By the concerted efforts of these two organizations 

 the production of certified milk was placed on a sounder basis 

 than before. The American Association of Medical Milk Com- 

 missions has published standards for certified milk which every 

 medical milk commission is expected to live up to. Following is 

 a copy of the standards and regulations : 



METHODS AND STANDARDS FOR THE PRODUCTION AND DIS- 

 TRIBUTION OF CERTIFIED MILK 



(Adopted by the American Association of Medical Milk Commissions May 1, 



1912) 



Hygiene of the Dairy 



Under the Supervision and Control of the Veterinarian 



1. Pastures or Paddocks. — Pastures or paddocks to which the cows have 

 access shall be free from marshes or stagnant pools, crossed by no stream which 

 might become dangerously contaminated, at sufficient distances from of- 

 fensive conditions to suffer no bad effects from them, and shall be free from 

 plants which affect the milk deleteriously. 

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