“SLIMY WHEY”

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25394, 17 January 1948, Page 5

“SLIMY WHEY”

Stagnant Water Blamed

TREATMENT METHODS DISCUSSED

Dairy cows should be kept away from stagnant water on the farm, approaches to milking sheds should be concreted, and all utensils used in the handling of milk should be sterilised. These precautions against outbreaks of “slimy whey” at cheese factories are advised by Mr G. J. Hunter, of the staff of the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute at Massey Agricultural College, in an article in one of the institute’s circulars to dairy factories.

Outbreaks of “slimy whey” occur occasionally at cheese factories, particularly during the hot weather, writes Mr Hunter. The whey becomes thick and slimy when stored in the whey tanks before removal to farms for pig feeding. Although the whey is still quite safe to use, the sliminess makes it difficult to handle and it is obviously a matter of importance to locate and eliminate the cause as quickly as possible. It is known that sliminess or ropiness in milk and whey is due to bacterial contamination of the milk after it leaves the udder, but since slime formation frequently does not occur in the whey during the early stages of cheese manufacture, the fact that milk supplies may be implicated is sometimes overlooked. It is often assumed that the starter used for cheesemaking is at fault. However, if the mother and bulk cultures are normal, it is very unlikely that they are the culprits.

The organisms responsible may be of various types, and many are relatively heat-resistant. They are found chiefly in soil and water. Why the trouble suddenly flares up is not known. In some instances the causative bacteria are present in stagnant pools on one farm only, and are conveyed to the milk from the skin, udder, or teats of the cows. In other cases,. infected water may gain access to the milk through leaks in the cooler, or again the organisms may be present on poor-ly-sterilised utensils which have been washed with infected water.

The infection may be small, and thus give no sign of its presence before milk is mixed with other supplies at the cheese factory. A few of the bacteria survive pasteurisation and become established on the factory equipment, and in the whey tank. Storage of the whey gives ample opportunity for the infection to develop in the tank and bring about slime formation. The slimy whey, perhaps only very slightly abnormal at first, is taken home in milk cans by farriers. In this way the infection increases and spreads to other farms. The trouble thus develops into a cycle, and may assume serious proportions. Immediate action must be taken to break the cycle at some convenient point. Steps taken to overcome the trouble should include thorough cleaning of the whey tank and treatment with chloride of lime, or similar disinfectant. The factory equipment should also be sterilised by boiling and/or treatment with chloride of >ime. * ws should be kept away fr>m stagnant wa x er on the farms, if at all possible. Approaches to milking sheds should be concreted. FAST STITCHING Two Victorians have established record figures for stitching wheat bags. Before lunch one day recently, H. Blight sewed 350 bags, threading his own needles and putting 13 stitches into each bag. He then drove five miles to another farm where he sewed 350 more bags before knocking-off time. The other fast Victorian needlej man was J. Sears who. in 1923, averaged 75 bags an hour over a fourI hour run. In 1912 a university student, ! T. D. Cash, who was spending part of his vacation on a farm, sewed 620 bags ; of wheat in one day.