STANDARDISED CHEESE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 193, 17 August 1931, Page 4

STANDARDISED CHEESE.

WHY IT WAS DROPPED

A LOT IN THE NAME

Asked about standardised cheese at Palmerston North, Mr. W. Goodfellow stated that unquestionably many New Zealand factories had been sending Home inferior cheese. He had gone very closely into the question as to whether standardised cheese was at fault. He found the merchants very hazy about the whole thing, as they had become completely boxed with references to "standardised," "modified, "full cream," "fat content," and eo on. They said all they wanted wae New Zealand cheese of good quality, and they were not interested whether it was standardised or anything else. Canadian cheese had no brand on it at all, not even the word cheese on it, and no mention of fat contents. The same thing applied to all other cheese on the English market, and there wae no regulation at all about the fat content of cheese, so that that could be as low as 10 per cent. The Dutch did send over some skimmed cheese, which they sold as 20's and 30's, in accordance with the fat content. It was recognised that the makers of Cheshire'cheese, Scottish and other local cheeses, took out a little of the fat, but they did not make a sow? about it. When the trade saw New Zealand cheese branded "standardised" and "modified," etc., they immediately asseumed it was something like the Dntch skim cheese. He had eeen one large buyer who said he would not have standardised cheese in the place, because "so much fat had been taken out that it showed patches." On investigation these white patches proved to be merely salt. Too much ealt had been put in that cheese, and it had crystallised in white patches. A Practical Test. For the purpose of making a full test Mr. Goodfellow said he had arranged with one of the agents to select 15 cheeses— both standardised and full cream from various parts of New Zealand. These were cut and displayed on the floor of the warehouse for ten clays, and examined every day. ( On the first day a number of experts graded them, and classified them in accordance with their texture into five classes. The first cheese was a standardised cheese, the second best was a full cream, and the third best was a standardised cheese. These were examined every day, but after four or five days no further openness 6eemed to develop. A certain expert who had given some very condemnatory reports upon standardised cheese claimed that he was able to pick out the standardised cheese every time. He was invited to do so, but he walked up and down the rows of the cheese, and then simply grinned at those who had challenged him, as he was quite unable to fulfil his boast. Only after he had turned over the cards at a later date and identified the cheese from the cards wae he able to claim that he could pick one from the other. He came to the conclusion, said Mr. Goodfellow, that standardisation had nothing to do with the trouble that occurred. It was due to excess moisture, excess salt, and careless manufacture. Standardised, however, had become so muddled about, and so misunderstood that it was obvious it had to be wiped out, but he did not think that it had anything at all to do with the trouble at the other end. The cheese market had been oversupplied if anything, and at euch times buyers became critical. Probably, in actual fact, there was not very much difference between the cheese of this class this season and of two seasons ago, except that some factories had become careless on the points he had mentioned. A good deal of the fuss about the cheese was pure propaganda coming from the blenders and makers of process cheese. These people bought largely, and naturally wanted the butterfat content. •

He was satisfied that while eome of our cheese had not been too satisfactory, etandardkation in itself was not at fault.