POULTRY CLUB.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18180, 17 September 1924, Page 13

POULTRY CLUB.

INVESTIGATION OF FOOD

STUFFS.

An educational meeting' of the New Zealand Utility Poultry Club was held last night, Mr w. A. Gee presiding over a small attendance. An apology 'or absence tras received from ford.

The chairman cxprcr.rei ri-grei that the attendance was so sma.ll to hear Mr A. Nappcr's address on ar. investigation ot the food values of by-product"—an impoitant factor to every man feeding poultry. Mr If. 'Williams remarked that it might be well to shut down on these educational evenings for a year or two, so that members woa!d appreciate them -when they were resumed.

probably oris oi the chijf reasons why ono met with 6 o many in/rrior specimens of poultry and farm animals every day in the wees. The fanner was not always to He was rather tho victim of circumstances beyond his.control. It was regrettable that the way was open for continual manipulation and fraud in the handling of animal foodstuffs and, as yet, tho /aimer had no legal protection. It wa,T surprising- that no definite standards for animal foodstuffs had been laid down by tho Government. Tho farmer had the protection of the law in respect of fertilisers or manures, which' were sold on the basis of a "guarantee minimum analysis." Such a guarantee wa? hardly practicable in respect of tho common cereal by-products—bran and pollard ; but where complete, or compounded stock foods were made some such* puarajitee of tho various constituents should be supplied; as far as tho cereal by-products are .concerned, there should bo sqme definite standard adopted to protect against any pcesiblo manipulation or adulteration. It was probable that for every ton of fertiliser used, 50 tons of stock food were consumed; but while tho vendor of a fertiliser below standard was liable to conviction and punishment, the vendor of adulterated foodstuffs had nothing to fear. A noted English authority stated that, as far as wheat by-products were concerned, only tho bran and shorts (pollard) should be, properly, used a s farm foods; tho aereemngs contained much rubbish, such as small stones, weed seeds, fragments of straw and wood, rust spores, and refuse waiter derived from othor sources than wheat are ground up and sold as food. From this it appeared that the practice of adulterating stock foods was universal. Mr Nuppcr quoted tho definitions of by-products in forco in America for tho protection of farmers. A standard English classification of the by-product of tho milling of wheat was that from 100 parts by weight of upcleaned wheat tho following yield is obtained: Screenings, 2 per cent.; bran, 21 per cent.; short 3, 2 per cent.; low grado flour, 3 por cent.; patent, or straight flour, 68 per cent.; loss, dust, etc., 1 per cent.; total, 100. Another classification of the products of the milling of wheat wag given in a recent isauo of the "New Zealand Journal of Agriculture," a. summary of which was as follows (average of 31 samples of wheat): Flour, 71.9 per cent.; bran, 10.!) per cent.; pollard, 17.2 per cent.; total. 100. If the above was typical of tho' yie'ds obtained in tho ordinary process of milling, a a practised in tho Dominion, it would not bo difficult to understand why so many samples of pollard were of inferior quality, or why tho figures for pollard were considerably higher than thoso of the English classification. A comparison between the. New Zealand figurc a and the English standard showed: —English: Patent for straight flour 68 per cent., low grade Hour, 3 per cent.; total, 71 per cent. New Zealand; 71.9 per cent. English: Bran, SA per cent., less 13.1, eqaials 10.9 per cent.; New Zealand, 10.9 per cent. English: Pollard, deducted from bran, 33.1, screenings 2.0, shorts 2.0, total, 17.1; New Zealand: 17.3 per cent. English: Loss, dust, etc., 1 per cent.; New Zealand, nil. As indicating what appeared to bo largo discrepancies between tho various sarnplea of pollard and bran, he gave details of the chemical analyses of four samples of pollard offered on the local market. He stated that the most common adulterant of pollard is bran, in which thero was practically tho same content of crude protein, but whereas approximately 76 per cent, of pollard proteins were digestible, only approximately 50 per cent, of bran Proteins were available for food. "Ash" arid fibre" were probably the safest guides to the purity cr othorwise of tlie sarnplea. High "ash" and "fibre" contents pointed to the probability of adulteration. Mr Napper also dealt with meat meals and blood meals. He said that tho valuo cf meat depended chiefly on its crude protein, which should amount to at least 33 per cent. The (at content should not-exceed H per cent., and ehould be free from rancidity; ash content should not exceed 36 per cent., and should be derived almost entirely from phosphate of lime (bone matter). At present wliat was termed "bone meal by one manufacturer m : ght bo called meat meal" by a second, "meat <»nd Vne meal' by a. third, or it might be called simply "pig 7 or "poultry meal." It was obvious tna« these terme ehould bo more dearly defined. Meat meal should contain a preponderance of meat to bone; and bone meal a preponderance of bone with little or no meat. Ua this basis meals could be divided simply into two groivps according to their bone content : "Meat meal," with an ash not exceeding 36 per cent.; "bono meal, with au < ash between 36 per cent, and 70 per cent., approximately; "blood meal," the ash content should not exceed 8 per cent., and the crude protein should not fall below SO per cent. These figures were calculated on a moisture oi 10 per cent. „„„, . nf M'r Napper, by means of a number ot tables giving analyses of different meat, bone, and blood meals, showed how local samples differed from the standards. Concluding, ho said, that in any process the by-products were, of necessity, of secondary importance. In tie case of wheat milling, the millers concern was to produce as many pounds oi 2our per ton of wheat as possible, v and any modification of his process which increased his vield of flour was immediately adopted, regardless of its effect on the by-products. For this the miller could not bo blamed, as It present he gained nothing for turning out a pure sample of bran or. pollard, there being no set standard required for these. The adoption of a standard wou.d p.aco aJI iills on the same footing, and the honest miller would lose nothing thereby lh| Stetaw of synthetic pollards and Xaifoodstuffs would have a jholesonw check placed on their actions and the consumer would be protected from deliberate of tho discussion which followed it T4 stated that during the war Kd there was a standard for pollard, but that it wa3 not continued. Mr Napper was accorded a hearty vote of thanks by acclamation.