BUTTER EXPORT TRADE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 138, 7 March 1929, Page 12

BUTTER EXPORT TRADE

CARELESS FLAVOURING “ROOM FOR COMPLAINT” Dominion Special Service. Auckland, March 6. “The prospects for another high record season for the export of butter and cheese appear to justify optimism,” said Mr. W. M. Singleton, Director Of the Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture, in an address at the Dairy Factory Managers’ Conference. “Reports from London on quality appear so far to be fairly satisfactory, although the spring quality left much to be desired. Managers are to be congratulated that their efforts have apparently been as successful as has been the case In abolishing complaints. With reference to the neutraliser flavour in butter there is, however, some room for complaint, as some managers are still careless in handling the neutraliser, and are a menace to the generl position in this respect.” “Much attention,” proceeded Mr. Singleton, “has during recent years been given to the question of keeping the quality in New Zealand butters, and comparatively it would appear that New Zealand has not been less Successful than any other butterproducing country in this connection. Indeed, it would appear that New Zealand is in the forefront despite the recognised imperfections. “Reports from London indicate the need for more care in the weighing and packing of some butters. Naturally it is the. irregularities to which our attention is drawn, and little is heard about the great quantity which gives satisfaction. An increasing number of factories are sending in butter so uniformly and correctly weighed that the wide variations in other brands become more conspicuous. Traders in the United Kingdom do not appear to be expecting much overweight, but they are getting more and more insistent on each and every box being up to good weight. “An excess in one box is not accepted as counterbalancing the discrepancy in another box. Factories are not thanked for excess, but are penalised for deficiencies. The better packing of much of our butter would doubtless make its appearance on the retailers’ counter much more attractive from the viewpoint of those firms which pat butter. The using of wire-cutters to cut pats from a block of well-packed butter saves time and labour.”