Annual Report

Report on the Inspection of Creameries.

BY GEORGE W. M'GUIRE, CHIEF INSPECTOR OF FOOD AND DRUGS.

To the Board of Health of the State of New Jersey:

GENTLEMEN-I have the honor to submit the following report on the inspection of creameries for the year ending October 31, 1906.

One hundred and thirty-three creameries were operated in the state last year, as shown by the annexed list. All of these establishments have been visited several times during the year, and a detailed report of their condition and management has been submitted to the Board. In addition to the above, sixty-two wholesale milk depots were inspected and reported upon. These are, undoubtedly, included in the term "creamery" as defined by the act of 1906, which reads as follows: "Any establishment where milk is received or stored for sale or distribution by wholesale, or for the manufacture of the same into butter, cheese, condensed milk or other food for human beings." These wholesale depots are located in cities and are repositories for milk and cream, from whence it is distributed to retail dealers, usually in the original package, although in some cases the vessels are opened and the contents divided. The milk handled in city depots would undoubtedly be safer if distributed in the original sealed vessels unexposed to the dangers which surround it in many of these unsanitary places.

The risk to which milk is subjected in creameries occupied by families, has been largely eliminated by the operation of the law, of which the following clause is a part, "No portion of any creamery building shall be used for a dwelling nor as a laundry or as a kitchen." At the time of the approval of the act there were fifteen creameries in the state in which dwelt their managers' families. Their apartments in most instances opened directly into the milk rooms where the children played and where the family washing, cooking and other domestic work was done. Cases of scarlet fever and typhoid have been traced to the milk from creameries that housed families afflicted with these diseases, leaving no doubt of the source and spread of this infection. Some of the owners of these creameries were at first disposed to resist the enforcement of this feature of the law, but later were convinced of the justice of the act and the reasonable consideration of the Board, in its enforcement. As a result ten of these creamery premises have been vacated and three of the five families remaining in them are preparing to leave.

Twenty-one creameries are equipped with apparatus for pasteurizing milk. These machines are of different mechanical design, some being of simple construction and easily cleaned, while others, where milk is conducted through funnels and pipes, are

hard to clean, the interior of the pipes are never reached by cleansing agents and whatever alleged advantage is gained by the pasteurizing process is offset by the danger of reinfecting the milk by its passage through the unclean discharge pipes that finally deposit it in unsterilized vessels. This treatment of market milk is on the increase but practical observation of the work, as generally done, has convinced me that pasteurized milk does not meet the hygienic standard, as advertised.

There are but seven creameries in the state which are equipped with suitably constructed sterilizing outfits. Four of these are in the shape of rooms, built for the purpose, into which bottles and cans are conveyed on trucks. The rooms are connected with steam pipes. In three creameries the sterilizers consist of heavy iron trucks into which bottles only are placed and the steam turned on. When ready for bottling, the trucks are moved close to the bottling machine and the bottles placed on the table without rehandling. The owners of these establishments are to be commended for their enterprise but they have not gone far enough in their efforts toward perfect sterilization since they have made no provision for sterilizing cans, strainers and other utensils which come in contact with the milk. A large number of creameries treat the cans to a bath of live steam, after washing, by inverting them over a jet through which steam is injected. The washing of cans is done in about the following manner: After rinsing, they are placed in a washing machine, filled with warm water charged with washing powder, and fitted with brushes operated by steam power; both the inside and outside of the cans are washed in the same water. From this they go into a rinsing tank, but in most cases the cans are all rinsed in the same water. Bottles are washed in about the same way with the exception of the steam treatment. This method of washing milk vessels is unreliable especially when they are not finally sterilized.

The prevailing system of refrigeration in New Jersey creameries is the ice water vat. Eighty of these are constructed of wood and eighteen of concrete, and of the balance five have mechanical or brine system; nine use springs; eight use box refrigerators; three use cellars; five pack the vessels in ice and five have no system whatever. In the last annual report the cooling vat system was commented upon as being unsanitary and the conditions this year are no exception to those mentioned then. In my opinion, the only hygienic method for this part of creamery work is mechanical refrigeration for by this method the operator has complete control of temperature. It is a clean method and eliminates the danger of contaminating the milk with the dirty water usually found in the cooling vats.

It is a common occurrence for an inspector to enter a creamery in the fly season and find countless numbers of flies flcating in the milk contained in vats and other receptacles. These flies have access to all sources of filth including the human excreta deposited in privy vaults and other places near creamery buildings, and the germs brought on the feet of flies increase many times if deposited in the milk. There are but two creameries where any effective effort is made to prevent the entrance of flies into the buildings. In one of these establishments, where the product is made into butter, a visit made in the summer time failed to show the presence of a single fly in the working rooms, so carefully were they screened. I was informed by the manager that he considered their exclusion from the milk and butter rooms one of the essential safeguards to the product. If effective sanitary measures are to be maintained in these establishments, strict regulations must be made and enforced to compel the proper screening of all creameries

defects in creamery management and construction have been reported to the

Bcard during the year. Where existing conditions warranted it, operators were requested to make improvements that would meet the requirements of the law. It has not been difficult to enforce the provisions of the act with regard to needed improvements in creamery construction. The owners of these establishments have been appreciative of the work which the Board is doing under the law and in most cases have responded promptly to their requests for the betterment of their plants. It is much more difficult to secure good creamery management for few of the owners have personal oversight of their plants and frequently do not visit them for months at a time. This leaves the work in the hands of employes some of whom are unfitted, by every requisite, to handle and care for milk through its various stages of manipulation from the time it is placed in their charge until it is ready for ship

ment.

Another feature in creamery management which should receive the serious consideration of the Board is the use of the same rooms for the manufacture of ice cream and the preparation of market milk. There are seven such establishments among the one hundred and thirty-three reported. This work requires considerable manipulation of the product and more or less machinery. The cans and other apparatus, and in some cases, plates and spoons, are washed in the trays used for washing milk vessels and utensils. The same men handle both products. Work of this character is incompatible with the hygienic standards which should govern in good creamery management. If substantial progress is to be made in creamery management there must be some distinction between those operators who conduct their plants on proper hygienic principles and those who do not. It is unjust to issue the same form of license to a creamery where the milk is handled in a careless manner, however perfect it may be in construction and equipment, which is issued to one where every safeguard is taken to preserve the purity of the product.

If creameries be graded and licensed according to their care and management the competition will serve as a fine incentive for careless operators to bring themselves up to the first class. This is a suggestion I would strongly recommend. I would also respectfully suggest the adoption of a scoring card for judging conditions in creamery construction and management, showing in figures the degree of perfection in each detail.

The following table will show the specific betterments which have been made as a result of this year's inspection of New Jersey creameries: