A BUTTER PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 225, 16 June 1908, Page 3

A BUTTER PROBLEM.

CAN WE DISPENSE WITH PRESERVATIVE?. THE TIME IS NOT YET RIPE. . •_ " I was very glad," said a dairying' spccial- ' sat of sixteen years' experience to a Dominion representative at Wellington, •" to seo the letter in your Farm Columns concerning preservative in Leura. butter, becauso thoro are too many people making misleading statements on this subject of preservative. 1 . You think preservative indispensable? inquired the pressman. "I dp." ■ _ . And its prohibition by tho British authorities ? 1 : "Would be disastrous.". You _say we cannot put good butter" upon tho British market without presorvativo? " We shall, no doubt, in time be able, to do so. But at present we cannot; and that is tho position wo have to consider." Pasteurisation-—-? "Oh, I know. I sometimes hear some alleged authorities declare, as if tlioy were saying tho last word, on-tho subject, 'Pas- : teuriso, and you will not neod preservative. Borax (say these people) is only necessary in dirty butter.' .Well, I say to them, 'What is your proof for this assertion?' and thc-y. can give none." . ' , Pasteurisation does somo good, no doubt ? " Yes. Pasteurisation destroys tho bacteria that do harm; but it also destroys ,tho bacteria that give butter its excellent flavour. It is said that this trouble could be remedied by the uso of starters. But there you have another danger. T,ho starter might givo you what you want; or it might, by soma accidcnt, give you results that you cer- , tainly do not want, and spoil -all your,butter." ■ .

Then it is best' not to pasteurise, nor to omit preservative, but to continue to export with tho standard half pound per cent, of borax ? " Yes, and meanwhile to endeavour to improve our knowledge so that we may be able later on, if possible, to export \our butter successfully without preservative arid without pasteurisation." Our butter is, even now, successfully marketed in London sometimes without, preservative? "Correct; and the people who send it Homo that way are in great anxiety about .it all the time it is on the journey. To send all the New Zealand butter Home,without preservative' would be to take a great risk, and' endure great suspense over each shipment until the results were cabled out." . Sombtimes.it has fetched good money. " Yes. But . I see that one manager, who has written to Tub' Dominion ■on the subject, says 'his returns without preservative were from 2s.' to 4s. per cwt. les3 than when preservative was used. I think that is a very . low estimate of the difference, but there is another factor to be considered. We must remember that New Zealand butter as a 'wholo has a good name in the trade at Home, and an occasional lot of bad Now Zealand/butter consequently fetches more monoy than it would fetch if New Zealand butter as a whole had a bad name. .But if all our butter went Home without preservative, then the value of the*best of it would probably show more than a 2s. or 4s. reduction." . ' :

But isn't borax injurious to eat? _" Doctors give it to babies as a medicine." . But to eat it constantly ? ' [ ' "Now, how much do you really eat in butter? If tho maker puts in-half a pound per' cwt., 'about half of that quantity is squeezed ,out into the wash water, leaving only, a of. a, pound in the, butter.. ' 1 believe' the British authorities t very rarely, find more, than ;25 or .30 per cent, in our butter as it reaches London. A person who eats 561bs. of our'butter in a year therefore oats only: about two ounces of borax in tho wholo twe]ve months." Aro.all the preservatives made of borax? " I think so —borax and boracic acid mixed in equal proportions. .The mixture/gives better results than either material, alone." The/British Government apparently threaten to prohibit it, at all events. " Yes. John Burns has been promising tho people wholesome food. The movement began, however, over the meat and other things that wero.pouring into Britain steeped in preservative. Butter has accordingly been drawn -into the same category, but I think a reasonable view will'be taken of the matter'at Home. Denmark is sometimes quoted for its success in marketing butter: without preservative. But Danish butter reaches London only two days old. Our butter i 3 often over three months old before it is eaten. It does not go straight into consumption immediately it gets Home. A lot of it goes into cold store till wanted. A merchant,' therefore, likes to know that tho butter he is putting into cold storo contains preservative. He knows it will keep. Butter without preservative is to him a very perishable article.; \However, I believe that in time we shall be able to dispense with preservative. But that time certainly is not yet arrived."