A study on the consumption of dairy products in Burlington, VT in May of 1938. Data and lists taken in this particular bulletin were taken by H. B. Ellenberger and Joseph T. Stearns.
5 pages
The consumption of fluid milk and other dairy products, perfamily and per capita, in Burlington, Vt., during 1935-36, was determined by a house-to-house survey. All sections of the city were covered by this survey which included 3,616 families and 15,258 persons or about three-fifths of the population. The following summary sets forth the percentage of all families using the different products and the average consumption per family and per capitafor all families and for the families that used the product.
BULLETIN 433: THE CONSUMPTION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS IN BURLINGTON, VT., 1935-36
Introduction
Burlington, the largest city in Vermont, with a population of 24,789 as reported in the 1930 census, is located in an intensive dairying section. Much more milk is produced within easy hauling distance thancan be consumed locally. Large quantities are sold from nearby milkplants and from one in Burlington to the Boston area, other southern New England cities and New York City. With this unlimited supplyready at hand, Burlingtonians buy about three percent more than theaverage quantity of fluid milk and cream (1.13 pints milk equivalent per day) consumed in cities and villages throughout New England (1) ;however, the average amount of milk bought is only equal to the allotment recommended for a minimum-cost adequate diet (2).
Purpose
The chief purpose of this study was to determine the per family and per capita consumption of fluid milk and of other dairy products in Burlington, to show the variations in rates of consumption by different families according to income, size, nationality, etc., and to disclose the more important reasons for restricted usage as well as consumer reaction to quality, price, etc. Furthermore, the project was set up so as to give employment to several university students under the National Youth Administration program. They took most of the records but did little computing and no analyzing or interpreting of results.
Procedure
A questionnaire was prepared and the student enumerators instructed as to its use and required to demonstrate their ability to use it in a house-to-house canvass. Being paid by the hour, they had no reason to hurry through an interview without getting all the needed data.The entire city was covered by the survey but not every family was contacted. In some cases the householder was not at home,a few could not be interviewed for one reason or another and occasionally answers to a part or all of the questions were refused. Board-
Bulletin 433
-ing houses, college commons and fraternities, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, bakeries and other commercial establishments were not included. Thus, the data obtained do not show the total consumption for the city as a whole but set forth the situation as it exists in individual families of different types and sizes and under varying conditions.
Due to the use of students on a part-time basis, the period required to complete the survey extended through part of the year 1935 and most of 1936. The numbers of records obtained by months were,January 202, February 56, March 799, April 715, May 622, June 416,September 66, October 308, November 290 and December 142. While this distribution of records by months is not equal, this inequality does not materially affect results, for both retail and total sales of milk in Burlington apparently vary less than five percent between the highest and lowest monthly output (3). Moreover, information as to average purchases was sought rather than as to actual purchases at the time of the interview. Records were obtained from 3,616 families including 15,258 individuals or about 60 percent of the city’s population.
As a check on the accuracy of the milk purchases reported by consumers, dealers’ records of sales were compared with many reports obtained from families well distributed over the city. This comparison indicated that the survey records of milk purchased were about 18 percent higher than the dealers’ records. However, it is known that several families occasionally bought from stores or from dealers other than those regularly supplying them. This doubtless accounts for at least a part of the observed variation.
Background
The Milk Industry Foundation reports that the milk business, including milk products, is one of the largest industries in the country with an annual output valued at some $3,500,000,000 and that approximately 45,000,000 quarts of milk a day are now used by consumers in America for beverage or cooking purposes. It has been estimated that as the largest single source of national farm income, milk contributed$1,475,000,000 of cash to the $8,521,000,000 total income(17.3 percent) received by all farmers in 1937.
Nearly 25,000,000 cows are milked on more than 5,250,000 farms in the United States, yielding about 103,000,000,000 pounds of milk annually. Several hundred thousand cows not on farms are kept for milk production. It is estimated that the total milk yield in 1936 was utilized as follows (4) :
The annual per capita consumption of milk and milk products in the United States for 1935 is estimated as: butter, 17.1 pounds; cheese (other than cottage), 5.2 pounds; evaporated and condensed milk, 18.5 pounds; milk and milk equivalent as cream in cities and villages, 37 gallons (0.81 pint per day) ; ice cream, 2.7 gallons; and milk equivalent of all milk and milk products 850 pounds.
Consumption in Burlington
The annual per capita use of milk and milk products in Burlington during the time covered by this survey seems to have been: butter, 29.8 pounds; cheese (including cottage), 6.9 pounds; canned milk (evaporated and condensed), 15.6 pounds; milk and milk equivalent as cream,53 gallons (1.16 pints per day) ; and milk equivalent of all these products,1,189 pounds, ice cream not being included.
Milk Usage
As previously stated, this survey included 3,616 families and 15,258 persons, or about three-fifths of the city’s population. The average number of persons per family was 4.2 and the total reported daily purchases of milk amounted to 14,049 pints, or 3.89 pints per family, 0.92 pint per capita. This result checks very closely with sales reported by dealers as set forth in a survey (3) made for the years 1929 and 1930 which indicated per capita consumption in Burlington to be 0.89 and 0.91 pint. Milk drunk daily amounted to 9,344 pints, or 0.61 per capita, and 4,705 pints, or 0.31 per capita, were used daily for cooking or other purposes.
Table 1 shows the numbers of families in groups arranged according to the daily purchases of milk per family. One out of 19, or 188,used no fresh milk. Of every 100 families covered by this survey:five purchased no fresh milk, 33 purchased one quart or less per day,31 purchased over one to two quarts per day, 18 purchased over two to three quarts per day, eight purchased over three to four quarts per day, five purchased over four quarts per day.