Which statement accurately reflects historical milk safety measures?

• A. M. bovis is unrelated to veterinary public health.
• B. TB was not a major cause of death in 1900.
• C. Organophosphates were used to replace organochlorines in milk safety.
• D. Pasteurization of milk was a major public health measure to reduce brucellosis.

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that pasteurization became a central public health tool because it directly lowers the risk of milk-borne infections, especially brucellosis. Heating milk to a sufficient temperature for a given time kills Brucella bacteria and many other pathogens that can be present in raw milk. By reducing exposure to these agents, pasteurization dramatically decreased illness from brucellosis and also helped cut other dairy-transmitted diseases linked to bovine sources, such as certain tuberculosis risks from Mycobacterium bovis.

Historically, raw milk was a common route for brucellosis in people, so implementing pasteurization was a decisive step in protecting public health. The other statements don’t fit the historical record as neatly: M. bovis is indeed a veterinary/public health concern and can be transmitted via milk, so saying it’s unrelated isn’t accurate. Tuberculosis caused substantial mortality around 1900, so it wasn’t accurate to claim it wasn’t a major death cause. Organophosphates relate to insecticides, not a primary milk-safety measure, whereas pasteurization directly targets milk pathogens.