SOME FACTS ABOUT MILK

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 357, 7 April 1910, Page 8

SOME FACTS ABOUT MILK

Some idea of the importance of milk as ihuninn food may be gained from the fact that about one-sixth of the total food of the average family is furn»u«i by it and its products.

Of the various mammals whose milk is used for food in dili'erent parts.of the world may be mentioned the goat' in the hilly districts of Europe, the buffalo in India, the llama in South America, the camel in desert countries, and the mare on the steppes of Russia and Central Asia. Sheep's milk is used in some countries for making cheese, and in other ways, and the milk of reindeer is commonly used as rood in the Arctic regions. With us the milk of the cow so far surpasses all other kinds in importance that unless otherwise specified the word milk is taken to refer to cow's milk only. Good unadulterated milk should contain about 87 per cent, of water and 13 per cent, of solids. Mi-Ik contains bacteria of many kinds and in varying numbers. They cause the souring of milk as well as the ripenh:g of cream and cheese, and produce many other changes in appearance and flavor. The number present in freshlydrawn milk varies enormously with the conditions of milking, and, as they are greatly increased with dirt and careless handling, cleanliness in all matters pertaining to the milking ana marketing of milk and keeping it in the home cannot be too strongly insisted upon. Disoaso germs, notably those of typhoid, diphtheria, scarlet fever and tuberculosis, may also be carried in milk, so that the purity of the milk supply is of vital importance to every family and j community. ' " I

The problem of keeping milk sweet is ono of checking the growth of the bacteria; and as they "are inactive at a temperature below' afkleg. I'ahr., milk should be kept in a eool place. Two common methods of preserving milk are pasteurisation and sterilisation. In the former, the aim is to apply heat in such a way as to kill most of the bacteria without producing undesirable changes in the milk; in the latter, to apply enough heat to kill all the bacteria, but with the least possible undesirable change. Chemical preservatives in milk are considered injurious to health, and are forbidden by' pure food legislation in many countries. What is commonly known as the richness of milk depends upon the amount of butter-fat it contains. There is so much difference in the composition of milk from 'different cows, that* many large butter and cheese factories nowtest (ill the milk they buy and pay for it according to its butter-fat contents. Mother's milk is best adapted by nature to the nourishment of infants. Cow's milk is the. most common substitute, and when necessary is artificially modified to make it resemble human milk.

The value of milk for adults is in combination with other foods; not as a beverage merely, but to supply in part the material needed for the bod v.

Unless an exceptionally high price is paid for it, milk is fully as "economical a source of nutriment as other animal foods, but dearer than most staple vegetable products. Milk, however, requires no preparation, has no waste, and is more thoroughly digested than most vegetable foods. As a source of protein, the most expensive of the nutritive ingredients, it is especially economical. Skim-milk, which is whole milk minus part of its fat, and which costs only half as much as whole milk, furnishes protein four times as cheaply as beef. iToods prepared with either skim or whole milk are much more nutritious than those prepared with water.