Milk Fat Modification

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32035, 9 July 1969, Page 18

Milk Fat Modification

The Dairy Research Institute is looking into the modification of milk fat to make it more suitable for certain uses and for uses in particular areas.

Speaking .to South Island dairy factory managers, assistants and directors in Christchurch yesterday, the director of the institute, Dr W. A. McGillivray, said that many people had been gazing into crystal balls trying to predict the future of the dairy industry. However, diverse the answers might be, it was clear that milk fat was the real problem. Restricted access to many markets, fairly high cost relative to some alternative fats, criticisms of milk fat on medical grounds, and certain of its physical characteristics, had all contributed to a declining use of milk fat in the form of its main products, butter, and its replacement by vegetablebased products such as margarine. Positive Thinking “I think it is time for a little bit of positive thinking about milk fat,” said Dr McGillivray. “We have tended to accept the fat just as it came from the cow, without any thought of modifying it to make it more suitable for specific end uses. There is no reason, of course, why we should not apply to milk fat all the known technology which has been developed in relation to other fats, and derive from it a series of products which

would be more suitable for particular uses or for uses in particular areas. “An obvious example is the development of butter which can be spread directly from the refrigerator, or at the other end of-the scale, can remain reasonably firm even at high ambient temperatures.

“One of the simplest modifications which we can make to milk fat is to fractionate it—divide it into fractions of different melting points which can be used in the preparation of hard or soft butters, for shortenings, for cooking oils, etc.," he said. Considerable progress had been made and they were awaiting a pilot fat fractionation plant, which was due at the Institute this month.

New Zealand, with its lowcost production, could afford a type of thinking in relation to milk fat which was foreign to any other dairy industry. Our raw material was sufficiently cheap so that even though a considerable amount of reprocessing might be necessary, we might still be able to develop from it products which could compete on free world markets with alternative animal and vegetable fats. Medical Aspect

Dr McGillivray said he had before voiced his concern at the mounting medical campaign against animal fats and milk fat in particular. He had said that there was not a shred of evidence to suggest that milk fat and milk products in reasonable quantities in a balanced diet

were any more likely to lead to’ heart disease than any other food.

It was interesting that noone had come forward, to refute this statement and he had been very heartened a few weeks ago to find essentially the same statement being made by Professor Yudkin, who was probably the leading authority in nutrition in Britain.