172 Sanitary Purity 



Chapter XX. 



SANITARY PURITY AND DIETETIC VALUE OF 

 CONDENSED MILK 



Sanitary Purity. — From the point of view of freedom from 

 pathogenic and other harmful micro-organisms, all forms of con- 

 densed milk are superior to the average market milk. In the 

 first place, the manufacture of a marketable condensed milk 

 makes essential eternal vigilance in the control of the quality of 

 the fresh milk. It is safe to state that in no milk plants does 

 the quality of the fresh milk accepted, receive more careful atten- 

 tion and average higher than in the milk condensery. The foun- 

 dation of the condensed product, the fresh milk, therefore, is of 

 a relatively high standard of purity. 



Again, the temperature to which the milk is subjected is suf- 

 ficiently high to destroy the germs of practically all milk-borne 

 diseases ; so that, unless the condensed milk becomes infected 

 with pathogenic germs after condensing and before the tin cans 

 are hermetically sealed, practically all danger from disease germs 

 is eliminated. In the case of evaporated milk the marketable 

 product is free from all forms of germ life. The only exception 

 to this rule would apply to concentrated milk, in the manufacture 

 of which the milk is not heated to temperatures detrimental to 

 the life of bacteria. 



Dietetic Value. — The dietetic value of condensed milk is 

 largely dependent on the effect of heated milk on its nutritive 

 value and on digestion. As far as condensed milk is concerned, 

 there are no available data that would throw any light on this 

 subject. The results of feeding experiments with heated, pas- 

 teurized or sterilized milk vs. raw milk, however, may furnish a 

 logical guide as to the dietetic efifect of condensed milk. Milk pas- 

 teurized at high temperatures, or sterilized, may be considered 

 comparable, as far as the efifect of heat is concerned, to condensed 

 milk. 



Doane and Price^ report the following experimental results : 

 "Raw milk is more easily digested when fed to calves than either 



1 Doane and Price, Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 



77, 1901. 



