Gastro-enteritis which resulted from impure food, particularly milk, accounted for a large number of infant deaths. The Goutte de Lait movement, modelled after a program in New York state, created depots at which pure milk could be obtained free of charge by families registered with the dispensary. Infant mortality rates among such families were only one-tenth the level throughout the general population. Unfortunately by 1919, there were still fewer than a dozen milk depots serving only a fraction of the population.
