FOIL-WRAPPED BUTTER

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31335, 4 April 1967, Page 14

FOIL-WRAPPED BUTTER

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, April 3.

Butter wrapped in gold and silver aluminium foil may soon make its appearance in New South Wales food stores.

At least two Mg dairy factories on the north and south coasts are planning to market foil-wrapped butter, and Sydney’s two biggest packers of butter are known to favour foil as “superior wrapping paper.” Several topselling brands of margarine are marketed in foil. Dr. Grafton Smith, principal of dairy technology at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, said research, started at the college long before the margarine quotas dispute developed, showed foil to be superior butter wrapping. Tests Made Tests at the college conducted in association with the Standards Association proved that vegetable parchment—the white, translucent paper widely used for butter wrap ping—let in light, the big problem in the modem merchandising of butter.

Too much of the wrong type of light for too long caused butter wrapped in ordinary paper to oxidise and “take on a tallowy flavour.” Foil completely excluded light Cost Question Dr. Smith said the main trouble in getting the dairy and packaging’ industries to switch was the cost of the foil. It cost about .6 of a cent more to pack a pound of butter in foil than in parchment—and the industry worked on a very small margin for packaging. Spokesmen for two big butter packaging houses in Sydney said housewives should not be concerned about light-damage to butter wrapped in ordinary paper. Most stores kept butter under lights for no more than two or three days, an insufficient time for any deterioration in quality to occur.