BUTTER MANUFACTURE

Northern Advocate, 22 August 1913, Page 4

BUTTER MANUFACTURE

A HEALTH DEPARTMENT REGU-

LATION,

DAIRY COMPANIES CONFERENCE

A conference of representatives of the Dairy Companies North of Auckland was held in the Presbyterian Hall yesterday afternoon to consider the action of the Health Department in placing a restriction qnitfiie use of bi-carbonate of soda jni cream used for the purpose of manufacturing butter. A circular letter had been issued by the Health Department in connection with the matter, and the section relating to the use of bi-carbonate of soda was as follows:— "Regulations under the Food and Drugs Act do not permit the presence of bi-carbonate of soda in butter, and it is the wish of the Department to discourage its use for neutralisation of cream in butter making. That neutralisation should be necessary is a confession of failure on the part of the producer. While it may be recognised that a trace of bi-carbonate of soda in butter may be, under certain conditions, unavoid able, at present the Department reserves the right to take action where it appears that tills substance is toeing used persistently or in undue amount." Representatives from Maungatapere, Whangarei, Hikurangi, Waikiekie, Waipu, Maungatoroto, Kaipara, Bay of Islands and Northern "Wairoa factories were present and. spoke against the Department in placing the restrictions on the use of bi-carbonate of soda as a neutraliser • '"" The speakers generally recognised that in some instances the use of bicarbonate of soda may have been abused, but to absolutely prohibit its use would entail a hardship.on many factories where there were pei-haps only two deliveries of cream to the factory each week The industry throughout the North would receive a serious set back if the regulations were enforced. Where home separation was practice* and the delivery to the factory other than dailyt it was an absolute necessity to use bi-carbon-ate of soda or other means of neutralisation. The use of a neutraliser was not to cover any defects in the cream but to keep it up to , a standard if it were kept standing any length of of time prior to its l being taken to the factory. If the use of bi-carbonate of soda was prohibited, then in some districts the dairy farmers would have § to sell their herds and go in for sheep " farming. If the Health Department were to stipulate that over a certain percentage of bi-carbonate of soda would not be allowed in the manufactured article no hardship-* would be involved. The amount of soda required in the cream depended on the amount of acidity the cream contained, but it was not necessary to put sufficient soda in the cream to affect the butter. On the motion of Mr F. McDonald it was resolved "That the conference considers that the Health Department's enforcement of the (regulations are not in the best interests of the community and that they suggest to the Department that action be taken only in regard to factories turning out butter which contains sufficient bicarbonate of soda proved to be injurious to the public health and that the Department be asked to fix a maximum quantity of soda to remain in the finished article." -•-• After the resolution was carried there was a little further comment but it was much on the same lines as the opinions expressed in the earlier stages of the meeting. It was resolved that the resolution be forwarded to the Minister for Public Health, the Minister for Agriculture and Messrs Mander, Herries, Coates, and Reed, M.P., and. Cuddie, Dairy Commissioner. DAIRY COMPANIES' UNION. The directors of the Kohukohu \ Dairy Company, who were unable to J be present at the conference telegraph- / ed suggesting discussion on—"The ad-/ visability of forming a Northern Dairy/ Companies' Union. The subscription to be £2 2s per factory. Th<e objects lof the union to be the assimilation of balance sheets. The formation in regard to tii'e Markets and disposal, the registration of employees, to make recommendations in connection with the treatment of home) separation, summarise cow testinig results and generally act as a bureau for the exchange of information, to exercise a joint influence in reducing freights and cost of dairy requisites and generally .promote the co-opera-tion of subscribing factories"—Cou^ A sideration of these matters was ferred. NEW ZEALAND DAIRY ASSOCIATION. In conversation with one of the delegates an "Northern Advocate" representative was informed that it was highly probable that the enforcement of the regulations with regard to the use of bi-carbonate of soda was the outcome of representations made by the New Zealand Dairy Association. A few years ago the association asked the Dairies' Conference to allow them to put the word "superfine" on their butter wrapper but the request was declined. The Dairy Association almost exclusively works under the creamery system.