VITAMINES IN BUTTER.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2672, 5 May 1925, Page 7

VITAMINES IN BUTTER.

NEW ZEALAND’S ADVANTAGE A CHANCE FOR PUBLICITY. A suggestion that should assist Ik giving New Zealand butter its right ful place on the London market bj demonstrating its superiority over it* rivals, and particularly over butter from stall-fed animals, is contained in a letter from Mr H. V. Coverdale formerly of Auckland, and now of &.■ Thomas’ Hospital, London. Mr Coverdale remarks that there is continued reference tto p’hre food in the English papers, mostly in reference to preservatives and their possible dangers and to vltamines, and suggests that some publicity on these lines by the New Zealand dairying interests would be of considerable value. He mentions that the supposed superiority of Danish butter is a bubble, that badly needs pricking. While most foods have been'dealt with, butter has not yet been the subject of public discussion, and he sees no reason why New Zealand should not take the initiative and point out tbe superiority of her products, taking such points as purity, vitamine value, fat and food value, and flavour, the English public’ being sufficiently mformed to appreciate such arguments. / “Dairy produce in England is produced with a total disregard for cleanliness,” states Mr Coverdale ‘and except that tile Ministry or Health would soon track down contamination from . a typhoid carrier, there is no supervision ,or control. Many, farmers do not even wash their milk cans. It is, I believe, a fact that New Zealand is the only country exporting in quantity to England where dairy cows are fed all the year round on grass This is a point of great importance, and much could be made of it, for grass is the source of vitamines It is now known, by a few scientists only, that in winter the milk and butter from stall-fed cows contain very little vitamine, and rata fed on them quickly develop rickets. Some medical officers of health have been even advocated the use for children of dried imported milk from countries where cows ,arc not stall-fed. As regards fat and, food value analysis have shown that New Zealand butter is superior to other brands,”