NO “HUSH-HUSH”

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 221, 15 June 1931, Page 10

NO “HUSH-HUSH”

Dairy Expert’s Decisions

CHEESE MANUFACTURE

Minister Replies to Criticism

Exception was taken by the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. A. J. Murdoch, on Saturday to the report from New Plymouth in that morning’s “Dominion charging him with pursuing a “hushhush” policy in respect to the decisions reached at the conference of dairying interests in Wellington on May 15. The Minister pointed out that copies of the resolutions carried at the conference, as well as the recommendations of a committee appointed at that conference, had been sent out to all cheese factories in the North Island on or about June 3. Further, the circulars containing the same information had been supplied to all delegates at the recent conference of the South Island Dairy Association at Dunedin. The committee’s finding had also been given to the Press at Christchurch and Dunedin. At the conference, which was called by the Minister of Agriculture, in cooperation with the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board, the following resolutions were carried: — (1) That it be a recommendation from this conference to the National Dairy Association Conference to be held at New Plymouth on June 24 that the manufacture of standardised cheese be discontinued after the present season 1930-31. (2) That this conference recommends the National Dairy Association Conference that the manufacturers of cheese co-operate with the Department of Agriculture, the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board and the Dairy Research Institute with a view to investigating the matter of securing early maturity of cheese in the most economical manner. Appointment of Committee. A third resolution providing for the setting up of a committee to draft recommendations relating to texture, openness, discolouration, milk supply and faults generally connected with the manufacture of cheese for submission to the National Dairy conference was also carried. Messrs. W. A. lorns and Dynes Fulton, of the Dairy Control Board, Professor W. Riddet, of the Dairy Research Institute, Dr. E. Marsden, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and Mr. H. L. Taylor, representing the Factory Managers’ Association, were appointed members of the committee. This committee met on May 28 and passed a number of recommendations of paramount importance to the industry. Recognising that the best cheese cannot always be manufactured by the clock the committee considered the conference should give consideration to the elimination of time limits and overtime, as stipulated by arbitration awards and agreements, and, further, give consideration to the providing, of other means of fully protecting the workers. In another recommendation the committee considered that milk should not be accepted if arriving at the factory after 9 a.m., and that should be made a regulation under the Dairy Industry Act. This, it was considered, would result in the best quality cheese, and at the same time make possible the completion of the day’s manufacture within reasonable hours. Temperature of Curing Rooms. With a view to hastening maturity the committee passed a recommendation asking delegates to give consideration to the temperatures of curing rooms, and as to whether it was not advisable to have a regulation gazetted requiring that curing rooms be kept at a temperature of not less than 55 degrees Fahrenheit, while containing cheese which was to leave the factory at "less than one month after manufacture. The committee further considered that everything possible should be done during the summer months .to prevent temperatures of curing rooms exceeding 65 degrees. \ It was also considered that regulations should be drafted for establishing milk grading and a differential payment of a minimum of one halfpenny per lb. of butter-fat as between finest and first grade to obtain as from the commencement of the ensuing season. Another recommendation was that dairy companies enter into arrangements not to accept a supplier from another company after the supplier had started supplying one company in the springtime and until the end of June following. Scheme of Grading.

An outline of a suggested plan for grading milk and payment according to graHe was suggested by the committee as follows:—

(1) No milk should be accepted which, in the opinion of the grader, would, if manufactured separately by the method followed at the factory, make a lower quality cheese I han first grade. (2) Milk which is accepted should be classed into two grades; first and finest first-grade milk shall be milk which, if manufactured separately by the method followed at (he factory would, in the opinion of the grader, make a firstgrade cheese. Firiest grade shall be milk which, if manufactured separately by the method followed at the factory, would, in the opinion of the grader, make a cheese which would grade 93 points or over.

The committee considered that for a commencement, finest grade might be paid for at a minimum one halfpenny per pound butter-fat more than for first grade, and that only milk graded finest. 15y the curd test and reductase test, and on the senses should be paid for as finest.

That dairy factories should pasteurise milk for cheese manufacture unless the milk supply was of such quality tlint a sound, clean-flavoured cheese could be made from the milk without pasteurisation was the test of one further finding by the committee.,