[Gemme]

Originally Posted by LaneyDoll

Small amounts of what????

Oooops. Spelling snafu. Pus. From cysts that form in the udders as a result of mastitis. The farmers give the cows growth horomones and they cows get milked lots and they are most often pregnant and between the pregnancies and the milking, some cows get infections. There are actually rules defining how much can and cannot get in the milk for it to still be accepted and shipped out.

I found this on Google Answers.

Now, as for the “pus” finding its way into the milk ---

The milk collected from the cows is stored on the farm in a bulk tank.
The dairy farmer and inspectors routinely check this milk for
contamination before it is shipped out to be pasteurized for sale. If
it does not pass the test, it does not go out!

The contamination of the milk is measured in terms of the SCC –

“The SCC amount is the Somatic Cell Counts (number of white blood
cells …Leukocytes) per milliliter of milk (SCC/ml). A dairy industry
rule of thumb states that cows measuring less than 200,000 SCC/ml of
milk are considered healthy or not significantly infected with
mastitis. Cows measuring over 200,000 SCC/ml are considered infected
cows.”

That was the PER COW level. The BULK MILK level regulation is:

“Beginning July 1, 1993, the SCC level in milk quality regulations
must be less than 750,000 SCC to comply with the State and Federal
Pasteurized Milk Ordinance. A violation of the PMO makes the milk
non-marketable.”