Commonwealth v. Boston White Cross Milk Co.

95 N.E. 85, 209 Mass. 30, 1911 Mass. LEXIS 894
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMay 18, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 95 N.E. 85 (Commonwealth v. Boston White Cross Milk Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Boston White Cross Milk Co., 95 N.E. 85, 209 Mass. 30, 1911 Mass. LEXIS 894 (Mass. 1911).

Opinion

Sheldon, J.

The indictment charges the defendant with having in its possession with intent to sell "milk to which water had been added.” The evidence was to the effect that [33]*33the defendant, having in its possession one hundred and twenty quarts of what was called “ concentrated milk,” had added thereto three hundred and sixty quarts of ice water, one gallon of heavy cream said to contain forty per cent of milk fat, and four gallons of concentrated skim milk ”; and that the defendant intended to sell the mixture thus prepared.

The government put in no testimony to show what was the composition of the “ concentrated milk ” which was the basis of the mixture intended to be sold, or how, where, or by whom this basis had been prepared or manufactured, except as follows: There was testimony that this “ concentrated extract ” looked like condensed milk, that it was white, thick, and of the consistency of molasses, and a half pint bottle containing a thick, white liquid was put in as an exhibit of the “ extract ”; and it was testified that the “ extract ” to which the defendant had added water had the appearance of this exhibit. It also appeared that samples of the defendant’s product had been taken by an assistant of the inspector of milk and had been analyzed by another assistant. Neither of these assistants testified, and no analysis of the defendant’s “concentrated extract or product,” or of the mixture when diluted as aforesaid was put in evidence by the government.

The defendant contended that the concentrated milk ” or extract to which it had added water was not milk within the meaning of the statute. It put in evidence of the following alleged facts, which so far as appears were not controverted: The defendant obtained a license under letters patent of the United States for the production and sale of “ concentrated milk,” and built and equipped a factory for that purpose in Vermont. It bought from farmers in that vicinity the best fresh milk obtainable, such as was by test up to or above the standard fixed by the statutes of this Commonwealth. St. 1908, c. 643. From this milk it separated the cream, and treated separately the cream and the skimmed milk. The cream was treated for some hours to a temperature of not more than one hundred and forty degrees by means of hot water pipes or jackets applied to the containing tanks, with the result that the cream became pasteurized at a temperature lower than that of ordinary pasteurization, the greater part of its water was evaporated, the bacteria [34]*34in it were destroyed, and beneficial changes in it took place, so as to increase the time during which it would remain fresh and sweet, whereby it was purified and yet retained the taste and all the digestive and other qualities of the best fresh cream. The skimmed milk was simultaneously treated in other tanks by a similar application of heat and at the same time agitated and cooled by cold air blasts for about five hours. This brought about the evaporation of at least three fourths of the contained water together with all odor from barns or cows, and killed the most of the bacteria in the milk. The original skimmed milk was thus concentrated and reduced to about one fourth of its original volume and was at the same time purified or pasteurized, but at a low temperature, so that the milk solids were not so far cooked or changed as to make them less digestible or nutritious than in the original milk. The cream and the skimmed milk, thus separately treated, were then in certain proportions carried through pipes into a mixing tank, where they were blended according to a formula, so that the milk solids and the fat should be not less than four times the amount required by our statutes for standard milk and the water should not exceed one fourth part of that allowed for such standard milk. This final product was the “ concentrated milk ” manufactured by the defendant, to which as aforesaid it added three parts of water, with the intention of selling the mixture thus produced.

Qualified experts also testified for the defendant that the chemical changes produced by the process stated were a mild form or incipient stage of curdling or coagulation of the protein of the milk, like that of the white of a soft boiled egg; that there was some precipitation of the sugar and the phosphatic substances, the water and the gases were driven off, and the bacteria were reduced in number from several hundred thousand down to a few hundreds; that the concentrated product was not milk, but a manufactured product made from milk as a raw material; that the pasteurization process used by the defendant for cream differed from ordinary pasteurization, and the concentration process used for the skimmed milk was different from any method previously known or used for evaporating or condensing milk; and that the defendant’s “concentrated [35]*35milk ” was not a condensed milk such as was previously known in commerce. One of these witnesses testified that whole or natural milk is milk as it is taken from the cow’s udder; that the defendant’s product was not milk and was not evaporated milk, which is whole or natural milk with the cream in and evaporated, and that it was not the ordinary condensed milk of commerce, but that he would call it “ a mixture of concentrated skim and pasteurized cream.”

There was no evidence as to what was generally known or dealt with in the trade as milk.

It appears to have been undisputed that the mixture which the defendant intended to sell, being substantially a mixture of its “ concentrated milk ” with three parts of water, was fully up to the standard fixed by St. 1908, c. 643, was not adulterated, and had had no water or foreign substance added to it, except, as has been stated, by the addition of three parts of water to one part of the “ concentrated milk.” It was assumed at the trial that in order to convict the defendant it must be shown that the “ concentrated milk ” to which the defendant had added water was “ milk ” within the meaning of R. L. c. 56, § 55.

The judge told the jury that the question was simply this: Was the substance to which water was added by the defendant . . . milk within the meaning of the particular statute ? ” He said that milk was the “ normal secretion from the mammary glands of the cow substantially in the form in which it is taken from the cow, ... or any substance generally known or dealt with in the trade as milk as already defined. ... If cream is generally known in the trade that way it is milk; if chalk and water are generally known in the trade and generally dealt with in the trade as milk, so that when a man says he wants to buy milk, in the trade it is understood chalk and water can be given to him, then that is milk within the language of that statute. But unless chalk and water is so understood, or unless any other product is actually and generally understood in the trade to be the same thing as milk as it comes from the cow, then it is not milk within the statute, . . . That is the question you have got to decide: Was that product which has been shown here, the method of producing which has been described, known and treated generally in the trade as milk as it comes from the [36]*36cow ? Could you sell that product just as it stood on a contract which called on you to deliver milk ? If you could deliver that product just as it stood, then the defendant is guilty; if you could not, then the defendant is not guilty.” And this instruction was repeated more than once, in strong and unmistakable language.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 N.E. 85, 209 Mass. 30, 1911 Mass. LEXIS 894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-boston-white-cross-milk-co-mass-1911.