geographic divisions of the State, including the metropolitan area, or "Greater San Francisco," in contrast with the rural counties north of Tehachapi :

DEPARTMENT OF BACTERIOLOGY.

BY A. R. WARD, DIRECTOR STATE HYGIENIC LABORATORY.

MILK AS AN AGENT IN THE TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE.

It is now fully recognized by epidemiologists that typhoid fever may prevail to a serious degree in a city provided with a satisfactory water supply. In the past, too great emphasis has been laid upon water as the source of typhoid. No one denies the rôle of water as the cause of the many great epidemics which have been so exhaustively studied and which have furnished such good arguments for the improvement of public water supplies.

Nevertheless, Washington, D. C., after installing a filtration plant, had in 1907, thirty-five deaths from typhoid per 100,000; good for Washington, but bad as compared with some European cities.

Dr. Rosenaw, Director of the Hygienic Laboratory of the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, reported at the A. M. A. meeting in Chicago that eleven per cent of all typhoid in Washington in 1906 was traceable to milk, and nine per cent in 1907. The figures were regarded as low, for the reason that epidemic cases only could be clearly traced. He quoted Whipple as stating his belief that twenty-five per cent of all typhoid is attributable to milk.

Bacilli carriers are regarded as an important factor in the pollution of milk by typhoid. This phase of the matter is perplexing, for as yet no satisfactory means have been devised for meeting this menace to the public health. It has been estimated that there is at large in the community such a great number of healthy people disseminating typhoid bacilli that any idea of restraining them is out of the question. Furthermore, the labor of discovering them is prohibitive.

In Bulletin No. 41, Hygienic Laboratory, Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, Dr. John W. Trask has brought together a record of one hundred and seventy-nine milk bourn typhoid fever epidemics. This does not include a little milk bourn epidemic in Berkeley two years ago discovered by George F. Reinhardt, M. D., Health Officer.

In the case of diphtheria, bacilli carriers are regarded as important factors in the spread of the disease. Years ago American bacteriologists reached a consensus of opinion that two per cent of the healthy individuals of a community harbor typhoid typical diphtheria bacilli, and that the percentage rises high among convalescents and those exposed to clinical cases. The significance of these facts is beginning to receive recognition in connection with the spread of diphtheria by milk. A milk bourn diphtheria epidemic in Oroville, brought to light by J. E. Knauss, D. V. S., Health Officer, and verified by the present writer, as due to bacilli carriers, has been mentioned in a previous issue of the Bulletin.

To illustrate the trend of opinion about bacilli carriers, a quotation is presented from the program of the section on Hygiene and Sanitary Science of the A. M. A. meeting in Chicago.

12. Milk as a Carrier of Infection.

JOHN W. TRASK, U. S. P. H. and M.-H. S.

Abst. The important part played by milk in the production and spread of epidemics of typhoid fever, scarlet fever and diphtheria, also the part played by it as one of the etiologic factors during periods of prevalence of these diseases in cities where no pronounced epidemic exists. Special reference made to the possible danger to the community of chronic bacilli carriers and of mild, undiagnosed attacks of the infectious diseases among the handlers of milk. The probability that milk also plays some part in the spread of tuberculosis is briefly discussed. The frequency of milk epidemics is brought out and some interesting outbreaks reviewed. 13. The Disinfection After Diphtheria Insufficient Unless it Includes Animate as Well as Inanimate Carriers of Contagion. MYER SOLIS COHEN, Philadelphia. Abst.-Diphtheria bacilli are deposited not only on inanimate objects near diphtheria patient, but also frequently on the throats of persons who have been in contact with the patient. Such persons may themselves contract diphtheria subsequent to terminal disinfection of the sickroom, or, acting as "carrier cases,' infect others. A house that has harbored a diphtheria patient, therefore, must not by regarded as free from contagion until negative cultures have been obtained from the throats of all the inmates.

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And the remedy? No one need even dream of a system of market milk inspection thorough enough to guard against the dangers to which attention has been called. Whether sanitarians like it or not, pasteurization is widely practiced by city milk dealers, with the primary object of improving the keeping quality of milk. The problem now is to secure effective pasteurization with the least modification of the present practice of city dairymen. This, by no means, will ever supersede dairy inspection or the practice of cleanliness, for it is well recognized that clean milk only yields the best results on pasteurization.

We need more work along the line of studying the reported cases of infectious diseases with reference to the source of the milk supply and the effect of pasteurization upon the morbidity from these diseases.

DEPARTMENT OF PURE FOODS AND DRUGS.

PROF. M. E. JAFFA, DIRECTOR.

ON THE PREPARATION AND KEEPING OF CHOPPED MEATS.

In the April Bulletin of this Board it was stated that the State Food and Drug Laboratory would cooperate with the Federal authorities for the purpose of the better enforcement of the State meat inspection laws. In accordance therewith, a number of samples of meats and meat-food products were collected and analyzed. The result of these analyses showed that adulteration is extensively practiced. The materials used for this purpose are chiefly borax and sulphur dioxid, neither of which preservative is allowed to be used in meats and meatfood products.

When the new meat inspection law first went into effect there was a great hue and cry by the butchers as to the impossibility of making these meat-food products without the use of such preservatives. As an illustration, the following excerpt from a lecture by the Hon. Geo. P. McCabe, Chief Solicitor for the Department of Agriculture, may not be out of place:

Few people are aware that no preservative or chemical other than common salt. sugar, wood smoke, vinegar, pure spices, and saltpeter, may be used in any meat or meat-food product bearing the legend "U. S. Inspected and Passed." A wonderful revolution in this matter has been accomplished, quietly but effectively, within the last five months. The former practice can best be illustrated by a remark made by a small packer to the Secretary of Agriculture. In discussing the subject of preservatives in sausage, he said: "Mr. Secretary, what is reasonable is reasonable, What I want to use is a little borax, a little salicylic acid, a little anilin dye, and a little preservaline, and I can make sausage all right." He is making sausage now without using any of these substances.

I have been told by the attorney for one of the largest food interests in the United States, that when a certain manufacturer of sausage was informed that the Department had forbidden the use of preservatives he replied: "That does not affect me. I do not use any preservative." His informant continued that the Department had forbidden the use of borax, at which he exclaimed: "Heavens! My business is ruined."

Evidently some butchers of this State agree to a certain extent with some of the opinions expressed in the above quotation. At the recent meeting of the State Board of Health it was openly stated by some butchers that it was impossible to take fresh meat, grind it as for Hamburger steak, place the same in the refrigerator after grinding. and have meat so prepared in an edible condition at the close of the day. It was a further contention of these butchers that it was a better proposition for the general public to add some preservative and thus prevent decomposition than to run the risk of the meat's spoiling and causing digestive disturbances if it were consumed. The Board of Health, however, did not share in these opinions, and in order to

* U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, Circular No. 101, page 9.

settle this question, the following experiment was carried out at the State Laboratory:

Twenty pounds of fresh beef (round steak) was purchased on Monday, July 13th, at 9 A. M. This was brought to the Laboratory, put through a meat chopper, placed on an eighteen-inch graniteware platter, and set in the refrigerator at 11:00, the temperature of the refrigerator being 50° F. At 5:00 P. M. of the same day there was nothing objectionable in any way with reference to this chopped meat, either in odor, color, or taste. The next morning, July 14th, at 11:00 A. M., about one pound was removed from the platter by one of the assistants, taken to her home, and cooked as Hamburger steak usually is. The statements of the persons who partook of this meat were that it was absolutely unobjectionable in every way. At 6:00 P. M. of the same day four pounds of the meat was taken from the platter, divided into two portions, and cooked at two different homes; again the verdict was that there was nothing objectionable in any way-that it was just as good chopped meat as any member of the respective households had ever eaten. It is thus seen that the meat was in a perfectly edible condition thirty hours after being placed in the refrigerator. On July 15th at 1:00 P. M., the remainder of the meat, fifty hours after it had been placed in the refrigerator, was used at the bacteriological laboratory for making bouillon. This proves that the meat was in good condition, as otherwise it could not have been used for bacteriological preparations. In fact, it was stated by those in charge of the bacteriological laboratory, that the meat was, even then, in an edible. condition.

It is thus seen that there is no foundation for the opinions expressed by the butchers at the meeting above referred to. It is true that the use of certain preservatives will give a more uniform color to meat, not retaining the original meat color, but giving a new, and as above stated, a more uniform, color.

With reference to the change of color in meat on standing, it may be said that after a few hours in the refrigerator the color on the exterior of a mass of chopped meat will be slightly different from that just below the surface of the mass. But this change is not objectionable from a physiological point of view, and does not indicate any deterioration whatever in the food value of the meat. The public should be educated to the fact that an absolutely uniform color in a mass of chopped meat is not an indication of the high quality or freshness of such meat.

It should be emphasized that this whole matter is not a question of opinion, but a question of law, and the law states very definitely that "No preservative or chemical other than common salt, sugar, wood smoke, vinegar, pure spices, and saltpeter, may be used in any meat or meat-food product.

It is hoped that the foregoing may prove of service to those most particularly interested in this matter.

LABELING OF GREEN, DRIED, AND CANNED FRUITS..

Attention is directed to the provisions of Section 5 and Section 6 of the California Pure Foods Act, March 11, 1907.

The principle in these cases is the same as in the case of other food products, the label must speak the truth. The name of the fruit contained in the package, its grade and class, must be truthfully set forth. It is not necessary to state the name of the packer or producer, nor the name of the place where the fruit is grown or packed, but if this information is given, it must not be false in any particular.

These provisions are regarded as being extremely important to the fruit industry, and they will be strictly enforced. No evasion, by use of corporate or firm names indicating place of production, or by other subterfuge, will be tolerated.

The maximum penalty for each violation of these provisions is a fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00), imprisonment for six months, and seizure and destruction of all mislabeled goods.

WARNING TO CANDY MANUFACTURERS.

Attention is called to Subdivision 7, Section 4, of the California Pure Foods Act, March 11, 1907, reading:

Food shall be deemed adulterated within the meaning of this act, in any of the following cases:

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In the case of confectionery: If it contain terra alba, barytes, talc, chrome yellow, or other mineral substance or poisonous color or flavor, or other ingredient deleterious or detrimental to health, or any vinous, malt, or spirituous liquor or compound or narcotic drug.

Among the substances which are deleterious or detrimental to health may be mentioned paraffin. This material is not allowed by law to be used in the manufacture of candy. An examination, however, of a large number of samples submitted to the State Laboratory shows that paraffin is being quite extensively used in the manufacture of different kinds of candy.

It is thought best to issue this note of warning in order that the use of such material in the manufacture of candies may be stopped.