BUTTER FOR THE CONTINENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1248, 5 October 1911, Page 8

BUTTER FOR THE CONTINENT.

, .••■PRESERVATIVES PROHIBITED. ' ■ Advice, has boon received by Messrs. A. H. Tiirnbulliand Co., of Christchurch, • from Messrs.. Weddel and Co., under date August 28," relative to the question of .preservatives in .butter for the Contiiveht. The communication runs:— . "Continental Contracts.—On the Uth inst., we cabled, you-that all Continental contracts for butters, which are unsn!te<l and without preservatives or other foreign matter, should be accompanied by a Government grader's . certificate, stating that the.butter is unsaltcd and without preservative. You are- probably ■only partly aware of .the severity with which foreign Governments look u'pnn tho' use of boracic acid in butter. In France and Italy it is absolutely prohibited for consumption, and in Switzerland the Government have power, not only to prohibit its u;e, but to confiscate any butter containing it which is sent into tli.at country. We, therefore, wish to draw your special attention to tte necessity there is for taking all possible care that no preservatives or foreign matter whatever is admitted into any cf the contract butter we have bought which is iinsalted and without preservative. You .can understand the difficulty we should be in if this butter,, when entering France, Italy, or Switzerland, or any other Continental country, should be rejected and sent back here. Should such happen we should have to make a claim for compensation for loss caused by them sending butter with preservative in. In l our cablegram, we stated that the Government grader's certificate must state that the butter is without ' preservative, and we hope that, you will be able to persuade tho Government to put this guarantee upon it. AVe finite realise that the grader on his own responsibility will not bo abl? to test whether there be any preservative in or not, but the factory can give the Government a guarantee that this butter contains no preservatives, and,/ there- ' fore, we think the grader should bo instructed on the authority of that guarantee to mark the grade certificate as requested." --■ - »Messrs. • Turnbull and Co. have forwarded this information to Mr." D. Cud--3 die, Director of the Dairy Produce Division of the Department of Agriculture.