MAKING BUTTER

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 50, 28 February 1934, Page 8

MAKING BUTTER

NEW*'VACUUM PROCESS

SUCCESSFUL TESTS

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

• SYDNEY, February 23. In face of the unsatisfactory average quality of Australian butter exports, as disclosed by the Commonwealth grade, figures,' especial interest attaches to a new 'system of working butter in vacuum during the final stages of' manufacture, which, in the opinion of officers of the Dairy Branch of the New South Wales Department of ■'Agriculture, promises to ' rectify some of the faults at present causing loss of grading points and to facilitate the standardisation of .quality at a high level, especially in'regard to texture and those factors which give keeping qualities. The vacuum process has been under investigation for some time by'departmental'officers, and according to • the Special Dairy Instructor (Mr. A. N. Brown) has so far satisfied every test applied to it. Its general adoption by Australian' butter factories, it is considered,'would do much to raise tho status of Australian butters on the British market. Not the least important of its advantages is its effect in materially increasing tho "spreadability," which at present is a constant, though, to some extent, exaggerated, ground for complaint. . ' ' -

Tho new process, which is the invention of an Australian resident in New Zealand, enables the final -working of the butter to bo carried out at a very much greater speed than has, for technical reasons, hitherto been possible. It also enables tho incorporation of water and 'salt; to be more exactly and economically controlled, and ensures a uniform ■ dispersion of both. Theso operations are carried out in an. ingenious but simply operated apparatus "between the churn and the packing" in a- vacuum of about 25in. Thus practically all the air which, under the present system is unavoidably entrapped in the butter during working, is removed, and this, together with the uniform dispersion of the brine in a very finely divided condition, both facilitates the, standardisation of the texture at a high level and enhances the keeping qualities of the butter by reducing oxidation. '::-■'. Examination. of vacuum-processed butter after prolonged periods in cold store indicates that the process practically eliminates the causes of the present tendency of many Australian butters to develop faults of flavour and texture .subsequent to cold storage, which at present are the cause of much loss of grading on re-examination in London. It is also claimed that the removal from the butter of the ontrapped air results in. a, reduction of volume per unit of. weight of about 8 per cent., an important consideration in ; relation. to sea transport and storage costs.; A series of .experimental demonstrations of the new' process has recently' been carried out: at . several butter factories in the State. The reports on these tes^s, provided by .experts, have been highly The results are said to have been of such a notable character as to warrant the serious attention of the whole industry. ' '