FOODS AND THEIR DECAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 315, 26 November 1910, Page 3

FOODS AND THEIR DECAY.

ROT OP APPLES AND PEARS: THE CURE. Mr. Rene Bache has been further pursuing his enquiries into the diseases of foods. Thus we are told ropy milk is a disease attributable to a germ known to science as the Bacillus lactis viscosus ; in plain language, the sticky microbe of milk. A particularity of this germ is thai it thrives at low tempsrature ; unde: conditions, that is to, say, where most bacteria are dormant. Hence, it will attack milk even when the latter is kept in a cool place ; the cream on the surface becomes ropy to such an extent as to adhere to a table fork, stringing out in a gelatinous mass.

In the case of this disease there is no trouble if the milk is used very soon after being drawn from the cow. Within a few hours, however, owing to the rapid multiplication of the microbes (if they happen to be present), the fluid becomes undrinkable. Only recently has it been ascertained what causes the mischief, and even now in any specific instance it may be difficult to determine the source of the germ supply. Sometimes the germs come from water used for washing milk cans and other utensils ; for the apparent purity of the water about a dairy gives no assurance that it does not contain germs. Often, however, the utensils of the consumer are at fault, and the milkman is blamed for an annoyance that is really due to lack of care in washing receptacles employed in the household.

The cure for ropy disease in milk is very simple. To avoid it, all that is necessary is to immerse the smaller utensils in boiling water for three minutes, and to fill the large cans with boiling water for the same length of time. This remark applies to dairies, of course. Careful scalding of milk receptacles ought to be one of the first rules in every domestic establishment.

When it comes to fruits, it is a fact obvious enough that they are particularly liable to disease. In the ordinary course of nature an apple or a banana ought to dry up, and not decay. Now and then this is what does actually happen ; but in most instances bacteria or fungus germs attack them, obtaining entrance through breaks in the skin, and, feeding on the vegetable tissue, cause rot. The so-called "bitter rot" of apples, which gives them an extremely bitter taste, is attributable to a fungus. One important reason for spraying trees in the orchard with germicidal solutions is to prevent the development of such microbes. Often they attack fruits while the latter are still unripe and hanging on trees. A familiar disease of the pear is caused by microbes that find their way into the interior and begin work at the core ; so that a pear with the fairest exterior may be rotten inside. The popular notion is that the normal stages of the development of fruit are represented by the terms unripe, over-ripe, and decayed ; but, as said, it is not' correct. The decay Mr. Bache declares, is due to disease. If the germs that cause it were excluded, the fruit would simply dry up. There are other kinds of microbe which produce wartlike excrescences on the outside of apples and other fruits. But all these mischiefs are avoidable, and, in order to prevent them, fruits, particularly pears and oranges, are commonly wrapped separately in paper, and are kept in dry,, cool places.—"Popular Science Siftings."