OCR Text |
Show SOUR MILK COSTS FARMERS DOLLARS Usually Result of Carelessness, Careless-ness, Says Expert. Sour milk costs producers thousands of dollars a year, and usually is caused by using unclean utensils or failing to cool the milk properly, says Prof. L. H. Burgwald of the department depart-ment of dairy technology of the Ohio Stafe university. "A little care on the part of the farmer would avoid this loss," says Professor Burgwald. i "Milk is an ideal medium for the growth of bacteria. All that the bacteria bac-teria require when introduced Into the milk. Is the proper temperature, and they will multiply very rapidly. In growing they break down the milk sugar in the milk and convert it Into lactic acid which in turn sours the milk. But the bacteria will grow very slowly. If at all, at a temperature below be-low 50 degrees Fahrenheit, "Milk coming from the normally healthy cow is practically free from bacteria, so when large numbers of bacteria are found it meang either that they have been Introduced after milking, through the use of unclean utensils, or that the milk has not been promptly and properly cooled, and the bacteria have multiplied very rapidly. "The public Judges the quality of the milk by the length of time which It will keep sweet. The milk plant has to use some test which will determine de-termine in advance how long the milk will keep sweet. This test takes the form of a bacteria count under a compound com-pound microscope, an alcohol test, or a methylene blue test. The blue color of the milk caused by the addition of methylene blue dye, disappears more or less quickly, according to the number num-ber of bacteria present. The miscro-scopic miscro-scopic test, however, an actual count of the bacteria present, is the one most commonly used." |