Trade Barriers in the Milk Industry

Abstract

N traveler or tourist in the U n ited States w ho purchases m ilk can fail to be im pressed w ith the d iversity of the grade labels on m ilk bottles. A nation-w ide survey o f ,m ilk control practice m ade by the U .S . Public H ealth Service som e years ago (1 ) indicated that slightly m ore than onehalf of the m unicipalities graded their market m ilk supplies, and that the wide range of grade designations in ­ cluded certified, 'grade A , grade B, grade C, grade D , select, inspected, guaranteed, special, market, fam ily, as w ell as no grade label. M any of these grade designations w ere repeated for raw m ilk as w ell as for pasteurized milk. T h e survey also revealed the w ide differences ex istin g from state to state and from city to city as to the legal standards for corresponding grades and the frequency of inspection and sam pling. W hile the last few years have w it­ nessed m uch progress in the direction of unification of m ilk control practice, the goal is still far off. C onditions are still sufficiently chaotic to affect ad­ versely ' the m ilk consum er, the m ilk control official, and the dairy industry. It m ay therefore prove w orth w hile to describe the present situation, to exam ine its results, and to suggest possible rem edies. T he great m ass of dairy legislation of the last tw o decades has been designed prim arily to accom plish one or both of the fo llow in g e n d s : (1 ) T o protect the health of consum ers of dairy products by in suring a clean