MILK INSPECTION 183 



especially when poured from one utensil to another, and the case 

 of the retail shop is the worst. This has been strikingly shown by 

 Prof. J. O. Jordan, of Boston. The legal limit for bacterial con- 

 tent in Boston is 500,000 germs to the c. c. The milk during 1906, 

 in respect to this standard, was found to be distributed as follows: 

 On the cars, on arrival, 90 per cent, fulfilled the requirements of the 

 germ standard (i. e., containing less than 500,000 bacteria); on 

 the wagons, 50 per cent, complied with the germ standard; and in 

 the retail stores, only 18 per cent, complied with the germ 

 standard. Such a difference between the quality of milk on arrival 

 and subsequently does not occur in milk bottled at the farm, cooled 

 immediately below 50 F and kept at that point all the time until 

 it reaches the store customer. Only bottled milk should be sold in 

 stores, and the bottling- should be done at the farm, or, less favor- 

 ably, at the creamery or city dairy. Inspection at stores must en- 

 force requirements for a proper refrigerator and cooling of the 

 milk, and also that the store be apart from dwelling-rooms. 



Infectious disease in the person of workers in farms, dairies, 

 milk shops or stores selling milk, or in the person of anyone living 

 on the premises, should lead the inspector to close any shop for 

 the sale of milk until such time as the infection is past and dis- 

 infection done. Any person suffering from infectious disease — or 

 having had contact with a patient having such — should not be 

 permitted to handle milk in a city dairy or other place where milk 

 is kept or offered for sale. 



In the inspection of city dairies, stores, hotels and restaurants, 

 the proper cleaning of empty cans and bottles should receive special 

 attention. In many cities an ordinance requires that milk cans and 

 bottles must be thoroughly cleaned or sterilized before their return 

 to the farm or creamery. Also an ordinance should forbid using 

 utensils employed for transporting milk and cream as receptacles for 

 any other material whatsoever. Jordan notes that broken eggs, 



