82 DAIRY CHEMISTRY 



given off from unclean floors, sinks, and shelves, and 

 float about in the air of the milk room, and when 

 fresh milk is exposed to this unclean air it is readily- 

 seeded with the spores of any ferment bodies that 

 may be present in the dust particles. As an exam- 

 ple of this, Soxhlet noted that when milk was placed 

 on a particular shelf in the milk room it soon became 

 offensive and indicated butric acid fermentation. 

 An examination of the milk rack showed that at 

 some time a pan of milk had been spilled on the 

 shelf above the one causing the trouble. The lower 

 side of the shelf had not been thoroughly cleaned, 

 and whenever a fresh pan of milk was placed on the 

 lower shelf, spores or seeds fell into the milk and 

 fouled it. 



There is great lack of care in the commercial 

 handling and shipping of milk. It is often unneces- 

 sarily left exposed at small stations, and the cans are 

 frequently reshipped without cleaning. 



Food and Water which the Animal Receives. — The 

 nature of the food which the animal receives influ- 

 ences the sanitary condition of the milk to a some- 

 what less extent than the other factors enumerated. 

 Scant or abnormal amounts of food, or foods of 

 unusual composition, may unfavorably affect the 

 sanitary condition of the milk. The relation of 

 the food to the composition and quality of the milk 

 is discussed in another chapter of this work. Some 

 foods, as rape, turnips, and rye fodder at the head- 

 ing-out stage, impart an undesirable taste to milk. 



