Fishy Flavor in Milk.
Ready
Relief.
This peculiar smell, as though the milk had set in a close room with a barrel of not-too-fresh fish, was brought to the attention of the Bacteriologist by a dealer who had already located it as coming from the milk of a certain dairy. The dairyman is a more than ordinarily careful milk-handler, who gladly coöperated with the Station in efforts to locate the trouble in his herd. Bottles were supplied by the Bacteriologist, which had been steamed to insure the death of all germ life and then sealed. These sealed bottles were taken by the dairyman to his farm; at milking time each was opened long enough to receive a little milk from each quarter of the udder of a single cow; and then re-sealed. All were brought to the Station; and, upon examination, the odor was found only in the milk of one cow. The owner rejected her milk and heard no further complaint, from the dealer, of bad smells. This was the practical point; and it was thus easily and simply gained.
Cause not
found.
From the scientist’s standpoint, though, only a beginning had been made; the real cause of the trouble was as yet unknown; nor was any satisfactory solution reached even after a long investigation. The flavor could hardly come from the food, for all the cows were fed alike and no objectionable weeds were found in their pasture. The cow seemed perfectly healthy and no evidence of inflammation or disease could be found on the udder or in the milk. Neither could any form of bacteria be found in the milk, which, in cultures or introduced into the udder of a healthy cow, would reproduce the fishy smell.
Rare fault.
At least two other cases of similar flavor have been known; but no cause was evident in either case. The trouble is very infrequent, at worst, and is here discussed mainly to show how easily a trouble due to one cow can be located by taking individual samples of the milk; and how cheaply gotten rid of by leaving out the objectionable product.