BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 2 March 1926, Page 7

BUTTER AND CHEESE.

THE PURSUIT OF QUALITY

ADDRESS TO FACTORY MANAGERS.

At the factory managers’ conference at the Moturoa grading store, New Plymouth, last week, the following paper on “Quality in Butter and Cheese” was read! by Mr. W. M. Singleton, Director of the Dairy Division: It is pleasing to be in a position to state that many dairy companies—and this includes their managers—have this season made successful endeavours to improve the quality of their butter and cheese. There has probably been no period I can recall when producers, dairy company directors, and' managers have given the question of quality so much attention, and have co-operated so heartily in doing something tangible in this direction. This has been evidenied by the extension of cream grading and the payment of differential prices for different grades of cream, and linking up with this grading the giving of instruction on the. farm in the care of milk and cream. There is a marked increase, in this respect, and it is all to the good of the industry. Cream Grading.

Some of us are hopeful that next season it will be obligatory on all dairy companies to grade cream for the manufacture of butter, and to vary the prices- according to grade. There' is a concensus of opinion amongst dairymen and those connected with the industry that all companies should adopt this practice. The majority of dairy companies are already grading, and it is known that many of those not grading would welcome compulsory grading. As a matter of fact, I know of onlv one dairy company which has registered an objection, although I shall be agreeably surprised if we do not receive an objection from at- least another company. Quality for Storage.

The practice lei withholding New Zealand butter from the market alter its arrival in the United 'Kingdom has been extending during recent years. Several dairy companies have adopted this course. The monetary side is not for our consideration today, excepting inasmuch as quality lie the determining llti/ator. In a private letter from Mr. Ross, who has recently joined Mr. \Y. Wright in London to assist in the inspection ol' New Zealand dairy produce, he states that he saw butter in .January, this year, which he graded in New Zealand on .January 24, 15)25. Wo will all agree that it is not in the interest of t/ie icputation of our butters that such a time should elapse as between the churn and the consumer. When the Dairy Produce Control Board controls the disposal, it is assured that none of our butters will be held back from consumption for so long a period It inquires good butter rto withstand such a time test as twelve months’ storage, and while it is stated that New Zealand butter only will stand such a test, we all recognise that the reputation of our butter is likely to be militated against by such holding as that referred to in Mr. Ross’s letter.

Jn this connection an extract from Mr. Ross’s letter will be of interest. He states: i have seen samples of

fresh arrivals of Danish, Swedish and Irish These butters had a very strong starter flavour, and evidently it is liked by a majority of the trade, but a slight staleness showing up in these butters at only a week old. evidences the fact that they will not keep. The merchants state that New Zealand is the only butter they can take liberties with in storing. I saw some New Zealand butter grading 94* points to-day. Without a doubt that is the class of butter we want to send over from New Zealand.” That brand belongs to a North Island company whose suppliers receive the assistance of an enthusiastic and competent farm dairy inspector. Its' average grade so far this season is 94.G7 and its highest is 954. Boxes of Foreign Timber.

The holding of butter for a longer period has established the fact that dairy companies undertake some risk in using boxes made of imported timber. The number of complaints received commenting on woody flavours may not represent any large percentage of the total butter exported in foreign timber, whereas, per contra, we have been due more complaints than we have received. It is quite evident, however, that, the timber received is not uniformly suitable, and some is decidedly unsuitable. (Mr. Singleton here showed a sample of such unsuitable timber which lie had- cut from a butter box returned from London, from, which gum had exuded.) Parchment Papers. The quality of- the parchment in use has been questioned, but this question does not. appear to have arisen to any important degree in .connection with the use of kah.ikatea boxes. Analyses of parchment have been made by our department’s chemist from time 1e time, and other analyses are now in progress. We have samples of delcroix, Belgian, and of a French parchment put on the market by Ball and Co., of Sydney. Samples of parchmentconsidered defective are also undo" test, and if any of. you have- brands other than those named we would be pleased, to receive about a dozen sheets for analysis. Experiment re Storing Butter.

The Dariy Division is at present conducting an experiment with reference t o determining the keeping quality of butter at temperatures around zero Fahr. compared with the usual temperatures of 15 degrees to 20 degrees Fahr.. If our butter to bo stored for a protracted period will turn out sufficiently better after storage at lower temperatures to warrant the extra cost, it is desirable that the fact should be known. Cheese.

New Zealand cheese may. with proper care in storing and turning, be on the markets of the United Kingdom throughout twelve months of the year without imperilling the Dominion’s reputation for quality. As with butter, if. is only the better qualities that should be hold. In view of the fact that the major portion of milk used in New Zealand for cheese-making is pasteurised, New Zealand's offering will probably contain as large a percentage of cheese which will retain a satisfactory marketable flavour as that, of any other country. I am advised that there has been considerable improvement in Taranaki cheese this season in some factories, and such reports are extremely gratifying. Cheese manufacturing companies as a whole appear to have been less interested in improv-

ing quality than the butter manufacturing companies, and? it is a. real pleasure to give credit for any noticeable improvement in cheese.

There is room for much more improvement in our cheese, since w still have too many which should be firmer and closer in body andi evidencing better keeping qualities so far as flavours are concerned. F6w, if any, of our cheese factories get a milk supply so clean and suitable for the manufacture of cheese that it will not. be materially improved by pasteurising. Cheese made from unpastourisedi milk too frequently develops what is known to the trade as- the “off flavour,” which cause' the cheese later on to come within the class known as “stinkers.” Canadian Cheese.

For six months of the year the prices of New Zealand cheese with a stabilised market should be as much above Canadian as Canadian is above New Zealand for the other six months. The mature cheese of either country may naturally be expected to command a premium above the others fresh. Average prices for the twelve months are scarcely bn fair criterion, since either country’s produce may be off the market- for a period, and those periods usually represent different price levels. However, during portions of 1924 and 192 a, when our cheese should have been bringing a considerable margin over Canadian, we have not been getting the margin we might expect if New Zealand cheese quality were all that was desired. I get the impression that excess watered cheese from Taranaki is a factor which has operated against our Dominion’s reputation and prices, and that the whole Dominion output, on the market (luring certain months may still be paying for that “flutter.” It is therefore necessary that we should not relax our efforts' towards better quality, and anything which is in the direction of a cleaner and sounder milk and cream supply, of cleaner factories and more intelligent management, and of tho better hand-, ling of our produce, should be encouraged to the limits of economical endeavour.