Part 3

DEAR SIR: Certain very definite beneficial results may be traced to the milk exhibit and contest held in Cleveland on March 16, 1907. It was of special value from an educational standpoint. Few of the dairymen supplying milk to Cleveland previous to the contest had any appreciation of the significance of the inspection required by the city and submitted to it largely from necessity. The various addresses and discussions demonstrated the method and the value of the inspection. The dairymen present came to understand the importance and significance of improved methods of handling milk, and many of the recommendations made have since been adopted. The dairymen also felt pleased at the attention and interest of the Government officials in Cleveland’s milk producers.

With the inauguration of the inspection by the Cleveland Board of Health considerable opposition developed among the dairymen, and in some cases open enmity. With a thorough understanding of the object of the inspection this opposition has ceased and the inspection is now sought and welcomed. Cordial relations now exist between the dairymen and the inspection department. The holding of the contest and exhibit definitely contributed to this kindly feeling. Friendly rivalry has been developed among the dairymen. The visit of the inspector is looked forward to; his suggestions are usually promptly complied with, and his subsequent visits result in a higher score for the dairymen generally. The general attitude of the dairymen toward an inspection system is well illustrated by a letter recently sent by several representative dairymen to the board of health:

We milk producers, who ship milk to the city of Cleveland, desiring to make and ship milk of good quality and to observe the sanitary regulations as prescribed by your honorable body, respectfully ask that each and every person shipping milk to the city of Cleveland be required to take out a permit to be issued by your honorable body, revocable at your pleasure.

That said permits shall be classified as 1 or 2. That dairies which score 50 points or above be classified as No. 1, and all dairies which score below 50 points be classified as No. 2. That all milk dealers, shippers, and peddlers who sell milk in the city of Cleveland be required to apprise their customers by placard or otherwise at all times of the class of milk that they are offering for sale, and in case of failure so to do, or in case of said milk dealer, shipper, or peddler offering for sale milk shipped into the city of Cleveland without a permit, said milk dealer, shipper, or peddler’s license shall be forfeited.

AUSTIN HERRICK. W. A. MILLS. H. F. BICKER. S. H. MIZER. O. H. BENNETT. E. BOWEN. H. E. POST. G. W. ADAMS. W. H. CHAMBERS. A. F. DRESHER. C. E. RILEY.

The exhibit also had a beneficial effect upon retailers. This class has come to realize the value of sanitary milk production. Before making the season’s contract they inquire into the rating of the dairies in question, discriminating against those having a low rating, and frequently paying a premium for milk from a high-scoring dairy. There is at present an almost universal demand for a repetition of the contest annually, and the interest and participation in the contest next year would be many fold that of this contest.

(Signed.)

H. G. SHERMAN, M. D., _Chairman Committee on Municipal Sanitation_.

C. W. EDDY, M. D., _Chief of Inspection Division, Public Health Department_.

THE VALUE OF MILK CONTESTS.

VALUE TO THE PRODUCER.

Milk contests are of value to the producer in that they point out to him very clearly the exact condition of his product. This includes, first, the flavor of the milk. Clean milk from a clean cow has but little flavor or odor. If it is fairly well supplied with fat, pure milk may be described as having a rich, sweet, clean, pleasant flavor and odor, and free from foreign taints. Too frequently, however, the ordinary market milk delivered in our cities tastes of the cow stable, or the feed, and has too much acidity from the presence of millions of bacteria. In addition to flavor, milk is tested for chemical qualities, including fat and total solids. It is also carefully tested for bacteria. If produced under clean conditions and promptly cooled, these should not exceed 100,000 to the cubic centimeter. Where extreme care is used, as in the production of certified milk, the number may be kept below 1,000. Other points considered are the acidity of the milk, the appearance of the package (including metal parts, etc.), and foreign matter. Too often dirt of various kinds is found in the bottom of the bottle, indicating not only dirty conditions during milking, but poor handling, especially as regards straining.

Defects of the product having thus been pointed out, the dairyman will know what is lacking in his product and what he needs to do in order to make it perfect. If the dairyman enters the dairy-farm contest his place is carefully scored and given a definite rating. Ideal conditions are pointed out and he is shown what needs to be done and how it can be done without great expense.

But the question naturally arises: If the dairyman produces a perfect product, can he secure any more money for it? Up to the present time there has been but little incentive to the production of high-class milk, with possibly the exception of certified milk. Clean and dirty milk have sold for the same price and in direct competition with each other. This is not right. With other commodities the grade determines the price. It should be so with milk.

There are indications, however, that the dairyman who produces clean milk will in the future receive a premium for his product, and the careful inspection of the dairy farm and the milk produced is going to help bring this about. Already an advanced price is being offered by the milk dealers in Cleveland for milk from high-scoring dairies. This certainly is encouraging to the dairyman who is trying to produce a clean product. Every farm should be inspected, and such inspection should be welcomed by every intelligent dairyman. A score such as was given in this contest, stating certain conditions found in the dairies to be satisfactory, will have a tendency to increase the sales and inspire confidence. It will be for the dairyman’s interest in the future to produce clean milk, and he should be rewarded for his efforts. Producers should hold together in this matter. Public sentiment is with the movement for a better milk supply, and the prices of feedstuffs and labor being high, the producers have every reason to demand a fair price for a good product. But they should see to it that their product is clean and that it deserves the price demanded. It is not for the producer’s interests to allow the consumer to get the idea that this most valuable food product, milk, is produced and handled under dirty conditions.

VALUE TO THE DEALER.

Milk contests are of value to the dealer in assisting him to determine where the good dairies are, hence making it easier for him to find a supply of milk to meet the demands made upon him for a good product. With a supply of good milk to handle, there is less trouble with sour milk and less complaint from consumers.

VALUE TO THE CONSUMER.

The principal value of these contests to the consumer is in pointing out the defects in milk and showing him what good milk really is. Clean milk certainly ought to command a premium over dirty milk. With the average consumer, however, milk is looked upon as a necessity to be bought as cheaply as possible. If he is asked to pay a higher price, he immediately characterizes it as robbery. He gives little thought to the fact that the price of grain has been increasing during the past ten years and that wages for farm labor are not only higher but the labor is difficult to obtain. The consumer should know that it costs more to produce clean milk and that it means extra labor and extra care, and the dairyman can not be expected to produce it without a reasonable profit.

APPLICATION OF THE CLEVELAND PLAN TO OTHER CITIES.

The results obtained in the contest described in the preceding pages indicate that a similar meeting and exhibit would be of value in improving the milk supply of any city. It is simply a means of reaching the producer, the dealer, and the consumer, and educating them along the line of clean milk. That the plan worked successfully in Cleveland there is no question, and it is believed that there are scores of other cities where similar results might be obtained. Such a contest should have the direct support of the board of health or some organization directly interested in improving the milk supply.

EXTRACTS FROM ADDRESSES.

One of the objects of the contest was to discuss matters of interest to dairymen and give them an opportunity to ask questions. The following are some of the salient points brought out at the meeting:

Dr. H. G. SHERMAN, chairman municipal sanitation committee, chamber of commerce: The sanitary code prepared by the committee provides that no milk from tuberculous cattle is to be sold within the city limits, but it was not intended that these regulations should be put into operation at once, as some apparently feared. We believe--and we think that you agree with us--that these regulations should be enforced gradually and reasonably, with due regard to the interests of the dairymen and with arrangements for the proper reimbursement of the dairymen.

It is no longer a matter of theory, but it has been clearly proven that a good milk supply is of the greatest importance to the health of city dwellers. A large proportion of disease comes through improper food, and milk is one of the important elements of our food. Especially is this true of infants and young children, those least able to resist disease. With these it may constitute almost the only article of food. Epidemics costing thousands of lives have been traced to tainted or unclean milk. Deaths from typhoid fever, diphtheria, and scarlet fever are often caused by infection carried in the milk. In large cities nearly one-half of the children born die before they are 4 years old, but where all the milk has been carefully inspected this rate has been greatly diminished. You may say that you run the same risk with your children that we do with ours and that you have never discovered any danger; but this is not quite true. In the first place, the milk which you get is fresher than it is when is comes to us, and with you the disease germs which do the harm have not had time to multiply. In the second place, disease spreads much faster in a crowded city than in the country with its scattered population. In the third place, the power of resisting disease in the city is much less than it is in the country. Your children, who play all day in the fresh air and sunshine, who roll on the green grass, and who sleep in the cool night breeze are much more likely to shake off any threatened sickness than the babies in the slum districts, for instance, who must play in the gutter or on the hot pavement in the daytime and sleep in stifling and perhaps crowded rooms at night. The death rate among little children is half as high again in the city as it is in the country, and sickness is in even greater proportion.

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Dr. C. W. EDDY, chief of inspection division, public health department: When the Cleveland health department first undertook a definite system of sanitary inspection of the dairies shipping milk to the city the first question that presented itself was a form of report to be used by the inspector. It was first proposed to have a list of questions to be asked by the inspector, the answers to be his report on the dairy inspected. This was tried and found unsatisfactory, as it did not give an adequate description of conditions nor the exact relations of the good features to the indifferent or positively bad. While in this quandary I received a communication from the Dairy Division of the United States Department of Agriculture, in which was described the score card used by the inspectors of that division. It appealed to us at once as a solution of the difficulty, and we proceeded to give it a thorough trial. After a brief use of the card we decided to adopt it in our work.

The card first used has been modified somewhat to make it more applicable to local conditions, but the principle remains the same. The most important feature of the score card is its absolute fairness, it being impossible for the inspector who follows the printed instructions to display any partiality. It further calls the attention of the inspector to many details which he might otherwise overlook, which, from our standpoint at least, are very important. After a dairy is scored and the score card sent in we can tell exactly what conditions exist upon the farm--where it is well equipped and where it is deficient. It should be borne in mind that we inspect the dairies and use the card to bring out the bearing of the production of milk upon the public health. Therefore some features looked upon in this light are of more significance than others and are consequently given a greater weight, as, for instance, cleanliness of milking counts 10 points, while cleanliness of stable yard counts but 3 points. It is difficult for many dairymen to comprehend this, and they are prone to look upon an expensive herd of cattle or barns of more importance than the sanitary features of milk production.

The average score of dairies inspected is too low, being below 50. We hope and expect in time and as we score the dairies more frequently to raise the standard. This is, of course, a matter of education, but with intelligence and patience on both sides we shall certainly succeed, and those of you who profit by the points here discussed will be the first to reap a material benefit in the form of an increased demand for milk produced under sanitary conditions.

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Dr. R. G. PERKINS, city bacteriologist: Since the establishment of the laboratory the chief part of the work on milk has been of the ordinary routine type. Samples of suspicious milk have been studied, and a long series of counts were made on samples taken from the receiving stations and from wagons in the endeavor to find a suitable standard for the city. As a result of this work the standard was set at 500,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter. Even in the summer months it is the exception rather than the rule that this limit is passed, and it seems that a lower one might be quite practicable. The most interesting work done in the department was an endeavor to find the relative proportion of bacteria in milk obtained from the cans, as served to customers by the so-called “dip method,” and that obtained from bottles carried in the same wagons. An ordinance had been passed compelling the delivery in bottles, and these tests were made shortly before it went into effect. Samples were taken from dealers trading in various parts of the city, to cover all the conditions, and were taken every day for a week in each series. The conditions, such as weather, etc., were carefully noted and the following conclusions were reached:

In the average of the 40 samples the “dip” milk was found to contain 37 per cent more bacteria than the bottle milk.

In 77.5 per cent of the samples the “dip” milk contained more bacteria than that in the bottle. Sixteen samples were over 50 per cent higher, and 8 of these were over 300 per cent higher than the corresponding bottled samples.

In 22 samples the bottled milk had most bacteria, only 3 of these being more than 50 per cent over the “dip” samples.

Dry weather, especially with a stiff breeze, usually resulted in an increase of several hundred per cent in the bacterial content of the “dip” milk over the corresponding bottles.

The results of these examinations were considered adequate to justify the ordinance requiring the delivery in bottles exclusively, although in the case of a milkman who is dirty it is quite possible that the use of bottles may increase the amount of bacteria. This, however, is a matter which should be controlled by adequate inspection of the dairies and the bottling plants.

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Prof. WILLIAM PATE, Jr., city chemist: Our work consists wholly of the determination of quality as required by law and examination for the presence of chemical preservatives, colors, cream thickeners, or other adulterants. We collect and test 40 samples of milk a day, taken from the milkmen upon the streets and from the stations as it is delivered to the milkmen. The Ohio law and our municipal requirements are that the milk must contain 3 per cent of fats and 12 per cent of solids for the entire year. Formerly the requirement was 2.8 per cent fats and 11.5 per cent solids during the grass months of May and June, but it seems that 3 and 12 per cent are low enough even for these months, and we conclude that any herd which produces milk below these limits is not a well-balanced herd, at least before our law. It is very true that some herds are producing milk below 3 and 12 per cent, but the producer having such a herd should balance it with animals giving lesser quantity but richer quality so as to bring his average for the entire herd up to the legal requirement.

For the year just passed we had for average results of 6,045 samples of milk taken: Lactometer, 312; fats, 3.71 per cent; solids, 12.51 per cent. And for the year 1905, 5,890 samples: Lactometer, 312; fats, 3.81 per cent; solids, 12.65 per cent.

As the average result of the year will show, we have very good milk in Cleveland from the standpoint of quality as required by our law, although it is only fair to say to the producers that the milk as it comes into the city is better than it is when delivered to the consumer. I cite a few instances:

_Table showing composition of milk as received by milkmen and as delivered to consumers._

+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | As received by | As delivered to | | milkman. | consumer. | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | Fats. | Solids. | Fats. | Solids. | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ |_Per cent._|_Per cent._|_Per cent._|_Per cent._| | 3.9 | 12.69 | 3.3 | 12.02 | | 4.1 | 12.77 | 3.4 | 12.17 | | 4.2 | 13.05 | 3.2 | 11.59 | | 3.8 | 12.62 | 2.7 | 10.55 | | 3.8 | 12.77 | 3.1 | 11.18 | | 4.0 | 13.21 | 3.2 | 12.20 | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

The examination for the presence of preservatives consists in carrying along a test for formaldehyde with all samples taken. We are particularly free from this preservative in Cleveland, but six samples having been found treated with formaldehyde in 1905 and four in 1906. The offenders were immediately prosecuted, but in addition to prosecution the board of health uses an effective weapon in the revocation of licenses. The present policy is to revoke the license of any man who is found to have on sale an adulterated milk. Tests for the presence of sodium carbonate, borax, colors, etc., are carried on from time to time as is found necessary. In the past two years we found one sample containing carbonate and one to which annatto had been added as an enriching color.

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D. C. HALE, milk producer: In the past milk delivered to the Cleveland trade has been looked upon simply as milk, with no thought of the conditions under which it was produced. Whether it came from sanitary or insanitary stables it was all sold as one grade and for the same price. But now, since the question has been agitated and brought to the attention of the consumer, we producers look for more definite rules and regulations governing the city milk traffic whereby the dairyman may be rightfully compensated for his painstaking labor.

There is no reason why milk produced in a well-kept dairy of healthy cows where sanitary methods are practiced should not bring more money than that produced by the careless dairyman. It has long been a puzzling problem to many of us why it was that other farm products could be placed in the city market strictly on their merits, while milk, which enters into more foodstuffs than any other product, has to be sold simply as milk and usually for one common price regardless of what has entered into the production of that product. We who profess to have produced sanitary milk in the past have an opportunity at this time to take an advance step in the way of adopting more rigid sanitary rules that may be recommended for the good of the consumer and that may prove practical and, we hope, beneficial to the producer in returning him a more remunerative price for his extra care and attention.

I believe that it is injurious to the general health of a cow to be turned out of a warm stable and allowed to remain out and get chilled, as is the practice with many dairymen. If cows must be turned out of the stable in winter to get water, they should be put in the stable just as soon as they return from water. Keeping the cows comfortable will save hay and grain, increase the milk production, and keep the herd in better health. The kind of feedstuff to be used is a matter of choice, economy, and convenience. If there is one domestic animal more than another that is deserving of sunshine in her home during the winter months it is the cow, not only for her enjoyment, but for her health.

Milk should be handled in such a way, after it leaves the milk room, as to lower the temperature rather than raise it. It should not be exposed to the hot sun. We should urge the importance of transportation companies doing their part toward taking care of the temperature of the milk after it has been delivered to them and until they have delivered it to the city milk dealer.

CLEVELAND’S EXPERIENCE WITH THE TUBERCULIN TEST.

Cleveland was one of the first cities to incorporate in its ordinances a requirement that no milk should be sold in the city except from dairies holding certificates that their cows are free from tuberculosis as shown by the tuberculin test. The experience of this city is therefore of interest and value in connection with the subject of a wholesome milk supply for cities. Following are the sections of the Cleveland ordinance relating to the tuberculin test:

PART ONE, TITLE V.