BUTTER "FAKING."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue 9306, 23 March 1907, Page 4

BUTTER "FAKING."

Evidenitlly the needi for watchfulness over the purity of colonial butter . remains as great as ev«r. A cable message on Tuesday indicates continued activity on the part of <tihe Agents-General who- have decided' to ask the 1 Board of Agriculture to include ami the Batter Bill a clause prohibiting tihe sale of milk-blended butter. For some time past there has been organised' in Great Britain a .strong agitation on the pant of British butter producers against <ihe system of butter "faking" and adulteration, followed by a great many Brd'taßh firms. The Commerce Act imposes severe conditions on> colonial producers with the object of ensuring the export of pure, unadulterated butter, and the practices of the British firms cause these conditions to act as a serious handicap on the colonial dairyman. It is, tiherefore, to the interest of the colonial producers, as well as of the British, producer, to endeavor to check these practices. One result of the agitation va Great Britain was the appointment not long ago of a select committee of the House of Commons, "to consideir whether any, and if so, what, further legislation was required in order to secure the better conduct and control of the trade in butter and) butter substitutes." The report of the committee was presented to the House last year, and a bill has been, framed embodying the conclusions arrived ait> in> that report. With most of these clauses those who are agitating for Teform agree ; but one of them, they aver, will nave the effect of defeating the object of the bill, and injuring the producer both at home and abroad. This pait of the bill relates to the "weighting" of buttiET with water. The bill provides "that no substance be added to butter whereby the percentage of moisture in the butter is -increased" ; that no margarine, manufactured or imported, shall contain> more than 16 pear cent of moisture ; andt "that nothing shall be sold under the name of buifcter which contains more than 16 per cent of moisture.*' But another clause, and this is the one to which so much other thani butter (not being margarine) other thaij butter (not Deing margaTinecontadning butter fat should be fold, with a limit? of 24 per cent of moisture under a name approved by the Board of Agriculture and. Fisherieis ; provided that such, name should not be calculated to prejudice the sale- of the article." This clause, it is ccmt.nded, opens tlhe- door to aill the abuses of btitter weighting, with its attendant evils of adulteration. Whilst dairymen in this colony appear to be under the impression that New Zealand butter is almost exclusively sought after for the purpose of "faking," discussions which have occurred' make it clear that Australians consider that it is their produce which receives especial attention. No but. tear is allowed to be exported from Au6tonailia containing more than 16 per cent of moisture, and it is •claimed that the best class of Australian butter is taken by the "butter-fakers," mixed with the hteavy constituents of milk other tJiam butter-fat, and witn. 24 per cent of moisture contained in it sold at an enormous profit. It is urged that the consumer knows nothing about the difference between but/fcer-f' at and cassein, does not know what "milk-blended" butfcer means, amd therefore will buy the cheaper article when color and appearance are equal. The >consumeT suffers, for whenever he buys a pound of butter he is buying over an ounce of water, which has been worked into the composition of the butter, besides a quantity of other weighty matefria3s which are not butter-fat. In addition, be gets an unknown and unrestricted amount o£ preservative — most probably, boric acid — for "faked" butter will not keep without a preservative. The producer is in an equally unenviable situation. He is prohibited from allowing more than 16 per cent moisture both in Australia and Great Britain, while in Australia his use of preservatives is Tcguktedi and restricted. The producer is debarred from making the profit earned by the "faker," while the reputation of his butter is being undermined, amd his market for it ruined. . In a letter on the subject- of blending (not to be confused with "adulteration") to tlhe Board of Public Health Dr W. V. Norris (Victoria) said:. "It would, T think, be a very sinister step to allow any butter pro-

~—.... i/vr U \> (<u» vii mjc u>ijjiA.tiu wiwi a wawjr content such as tluut proposed in the butter trade report reoentJy issued by the selectt committee in Englaaid. The keeping qualit ties of butter are reduced by the incorpora1 tion of milk with it, so that the consumer obtains an article which is not only of lower nutritive value, buit which, owing \ to its Tapid detf rioratdon, is liable to cause digestive disturbance. The recognition of th& practice of blending milk with butter, aud the allowing of such an abnormally high water content as that suggested by the commit b;e 5 will almost necessarily . carry with it the tree use of preserra- ! tives, probably boric acid. The question of allowing boric arid in any butter is one on which opinions vary, but there is no ; difference of opinion among those who I have investigated the action of boric aedd j as 'used in tihe dairying industry that its . use encourages dirty dairy methods, and that iit acts as a mask* on umcleanliness and carelessness in the storage and manipulation of milk and cream and their products." Right throughout Australasia the activity of the various Governments is in the direction of protecting our dairying industry and developing the export trade. These efforts, however, are much discounted by permitting our pure, wholesome products to be fraudulently manipulated at the other end, to the disadvantage of the consumer.