The public health movement.

  • American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The public health movement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    203/346 (page 195)
    Gross adulteration is readily tested either by chemical or by physical (lactometer) tests. Inasmuch as milk varies con- siderably in the relative amount of water and of solid contents which it normally contains, however, it is impossible, within certain limits, to determine by inspection whether or not water has been added. The usual method of controlling water adul- teration is to fix a minimum standard of solid contents and to exclude or destroy milk not conforming to this standard. It is readily seen, however, that milk containing milk solids in excess of the standard may be manipulated by adulteration or by re- moval of cream so long as the legal standard is maintained. It is a common error to assume that milk found to meet a legal standard as to solid contents may thereby be known as milk of high quality. As a matter of fact, when milk ju>t reaches the usual legal standards, it is prima facie inferior in quality, being of the lowest grade permitted. There has been a tendency, recently, to lower legal standards so that milk from certain breeds of cow, notably the Holstein, which is normally deficient in milk solids, might come within the prescribed limits. Such legislation might be characterized as itself a species of adultera- tion, placing, as it does, a premium upon low-grade milk and making it possible for an unscrupulous dealer to impair the food value of milk normally good, by the addition of water or the removal of cream, without making himself liable under the law. It is true that the minimum limit must not be placed so high as to exclude the milk from too many herds. Aside from the danger of infection, however, there seems to be little difference between adding water after milking, by means of a dipper, or before milking, through the natural processes of secretion. The rational remedy for this difficulty appears to be the grading of milk on the basis of its food value and the fixing of prices for the several grades, so that both dealers and consumers may reap the advantage of maintaining high standards. Such a plan re- quires that consumers be so educated as to appreciate the dif- ference between high-grade and low-grade milk, and to demand satisfactory evidence as to the quality of milk received. The second main aspect of the problem of controlling a milk supply has to do with the bacteriological content of milk, which (439)