GERMS IN RELATION TO MILK 17 



Chemicals find little use as germ-destroyers in a properly con- 

 ducted dairy or farm. They may be employed to some extent in 

 the barn (as lime scattered on the floor), or in case milk products 

 become faulty through some contamination with special germs in 

 the stable or dairy, and in case the stable has been inhabited by 

 cows having tuberculosis, when general disinfection is in order 

 (see p. 346). Various preservatives under the trade names of Free- 

 zine, Iceline, Preservaline, Milk Sweet (all containing from two to 

 five per cent, of formaldehyde), and others containing boric acid, as 

 Dry Antiseptic, Preserving Salts, " A " Preservaline, Cream Al- 

 buminoid, Patent " M " Preservaline and Ozone Antiseptic Com- 

 pound, are employed to keep milk from souring without the use 

 of ice or cleanliness by killing or checking the growth of germs 

 in milk. Their use is contrary to law and detrimental to the con- 

 sumer's health, especially when employed, as they usually are, in 

 a careless way, without regard to what the effect of a considerable 

 amount of the chemical might be. Thus the following instance is 

 related in the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture for 1900 

 of a case where a preserving fluid was first added to the milk by 

 the farmer, then by the collector of the milk, again by the whole- 

 sale dealer, and finally the fourth dose by the retail dealer. 



If it were impossible to produce clean milk or to preserve it with 

 ice, and if preservatives could be used properly in a harmless dose, 

 their employment might be permitted, but such is not the case. 



Significance of Germs in Milk 



The growth of large numbers of germs in milk causes it to 

 deteriorate because they remove nutriment or alter the milk chemi- 

 cally and thus lessen its food-value. Ordinary market milk, which 

 is overrun with germs, loses much of its value as food after 

 it is twenty-four hours old. The ideal result would be reached 

 if milk could be withdrawn from the cow absolutely free from germs. 

 This might be possible if germs did not enter the udder in the 



