PART V 



CONDENSED MILK DEFECTS, THEIR CAUSES 

 AND PREVENTIONS 



Chapter XXIII. 



CLASSIFICATION OF DEFECTS 



If we recognize in fresh cow's milk an article of food, highly 

 complex in. composition, subject to many and complex changes 

 and to rapid deterioration unless handled carefully and skillfully, 

 then the successful manufacture of condensed milk, a product 

 more complex in its composition and exposed to more diverse, 

 more varying and, in most cases, more unfavorable conditions 

 than fresh milk, must involve a knowledge that extends beyond 

 the mere mechanical knack of heating, adding sugar, evap- 

 orating, sterilizing, cooling, filling, sealing and packing. 



The simplicity of the process tends to belittle and hide the 

 complexity of the product. Anybody can acquire the routine 

 knowledge of condensing milk, but few can make a uniformly 

 good quality of condensed milk. It, therefore, happens that 

 defective condensed milk is made now and then in most, if not 

 all condenseries, and that the output of a poor quality of con- 

 densed milk is not necessarily always the exception but quite 

 often the rule. 



Many are the defects which cause condensed milk to be 

 rejected on the market and numerous are the avenues that may 

 lead to the manufacture of defective milk. The milk faults may 

 be of mechanical, physical, chemical, or bacteriological origin, or 

 they may be due to a combination of two or more of these forces. 

 In some instances the defects can be detected in milk during, or 

 immediately after the process, in which case they may be 

 remedied, or their recurrence prevented. But more often, several 

 weeks may pass before abnormalities develop and before the 

 manufacturer realizes that something is wrong with the milk. 

 In the meantime, the conditions which originally produced the 



