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Abstract
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SafetyLit summary:
Although the author(s) described deplorable conditions in the dairy stables. Their tests of milk that was taken immediately after the milking did not show signs of contamination with poisons. The authors compared the milk of swill-fed cows, grass-fed cows, and cows fed with a combination of grass and whole grain. The swill-fed cows produced much more milk than cows that had other food sources. The authors concluded that the milk produced by swill-fed cows was safe. The authors did not assess the swill milk that was marketed to the public. Although the authors, commented on the newspaper articles suggesting that swill milk is quite dangerous, they made no mention of the more sophisticated tests that had been sponsored by the New York Times newspaper that found several dangerous contaminants in the swill milk that was available to the public from grocery stores.
[[SafetyLit note:
Swill milk referred to milk from cows fed swill which was residual mash from nearby distilleries. The milk was whitened with plaster of Paris, thickened with starch and eggs, and hued with molasses. Swill milk was often further adulterated with other substances.
The swill milk scandal was a major adulterated food scandal in New York in the 1850s. The New York Times reported in 1858 an estimate that in one year 8,000 infants died from swill milk.]]
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Language: en
Keywords: Poisoning
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