The top of the milk bottle over which the milk is poured is exposed to contamination from the hands of the deliveryman. Trouble from this source can be avoided if the consumer cleans the lip of the bottle before removing the cap. The better grades of milk are dispensed in bottles, the top of which is protected by an additional cover of paper or tin foil which reaches to the neck of the bottle and is held in place by a crimped metal band.
Milk supply of the small cities. It is true that the quality of milk supplied to the large cities by the great milk companies is generally much superior to that sold in the smaller cities and villages. Many of the smaller places are however, attempting in various ways to improve their supply. It is evident that methods will be successful here that can not be employed in the larger places. A detailed and careful farm inspection by a tactful, capable inspector, coupled with proper publicity will do much to improve conditions. The publication of the scores of the different farms, and the demonstration of the sediment test as applied to their product attracts favorable attention to the good dairies and unfavorable attention to the poor. This usually has an effect on the trade sufficient to cause the negligent producer and dealer to improve.
It is also becoming recognized that high grade milk can be produced with very simple equipment. In fact the small farm is often more successful in producing high grade milk than is the large farm on which the work must be done by hired help for here the personality of the owner can not make itself felt as where the producer is doing a portion of the work about the barn and dairy himself. It is becoming more and more evident that the chief factor in the production of clean milk is the personality of the producer; he should be one who gets enjoyment out of his clean stables and cows and his high grade product.
The man who is producing milk for the city market is but one of many and his individual efforts can not make themselves felt. The dairyman who is marketing his own product is in a position where his efforts to produce a fine product should prove of distinct advantage to him in enabling him to sell it for a higher price than that obtained for ordinary milk.
It should be remembered that the production of clean, healthful milk is not a question of equipment, but of methods and of additional work. The cows must be fed, the stables must be cleaned, the cows milked, and the milk delivered to the consumer. If beyond this unavoidable labor a small additional amount is expended, the improvement in the product will be great. It is necessary that the additional work be placed where it will do the most good, in keeping the cows clean both summer and winter so that little need be done in cleaning them before milking, the pails and other utensils kept clean and sterilized, and the milk cooled as soon as possible and kept cold until delivered to the consumer. The delivery should be made within the shortest practicable time after the milk is drawn. In order that the healthfulness of the milk may be beyond question, the herd must be kept free from tuberculosis and some attention should be paid to the health of the men, especially with reference to whether they may be typhoid carriers or not. The necessary labor should not increase the cost of the milk over one cent per quart. It has been shown in many cases that such a product can be marketed at a price that will more than compensate for the additional cost. Clean, fresh, rich milk is being sold in villages and small cities located in the great butter and cheese producing sections of the country for eight to ten cents per quart.
The duty of the consumer. The educational campaign that has been carried on by the health departments with reference to farm conditions and methods of handling has been most effective in improving the milk supply. Many cities are now extending this to the consumer, recognizing that as much harm may be done in the home as on the farm. The importance of keeping the milk cold, of not allowing it to stand exposed in open vessels, of thoroughly cleaning the vessel in which it is kept, or the milk bottle before returning it to the milkman are especially emphasized.
Moreover, it must be impressed upon the consumer that all of these improvements, not only on the farm where the milk is produced, but in the hands of the distributing companies in the cities, involve much expense, and cannot be carried out, unless the consumer is willing to pay their cost. More objection seems to be raised over an increase in the price of milk than any other food stuff. The consumer therefore needs education along the line of higher prices for milk. Dairy products of all types have increased much in value in recent years, so that at present prices milk, sold directly as milk, is relatively cheaper than in any form, when prevailing prices are compared with those that obtained a decade ago.