DAIRY INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20474, 28 January 1930, Page 16

DAIRY INDUSTRY.

WORK OF RESEARCH.: / ■ CHEESE PRODUCTION. RECENT EXPERIMENTS.

BY " NITKOS."

Tho most serious defect in New Zealand cheese is that of openness in texture, about which complaints are continually being received. There was some slight improvement in texture during the period when the Dairy Board was paying a premium for " finest " cheese, but since its withdrawal, the position has become, jf anything, slightly worse than before. That it is largely associated with impurities in the milk is generally believed, and the fact that there was improvement when financial inducement toward better quality was offering, shows that its solution is not impossible, A concentrated attack on the problem was commenced at the Dairy Research In- " stitute at Palmerston North last year, and is being continued this season. Last year the work was confined mainly to the differences between cheese made from good milk and irom bad milk, and as a result of that work it was made apparent that there'should be some difference between the price paid at the factory for the highest quality milk, and that paid for the " poorest quality. In other words, looking at milk from the viewpoint of its suitability for making high quality cheese, it is clear that too much is paid for bad milk, and too- little for good milk. Problem of Carriage. This year the research work is being carried a stage further, and experiments are being conducted in the carriage of cheese made from both good and bad milks. The cheese will be carefully watched from the time it is made until the time it goes into consumption in England, and under an arrangement made with the research station at Reading, a careful examination of the cheese will be made there. For this experiment sixteen crates of cheese have been made, of which eight are being sent to England, placed in different parts of the hold. In each crate, one cheese has been made from high quality milk, and one from poor quality milk. The cheese have been graded at fourteen days old, and hydrograph and thermograph records are being kept both on the boafi, and in the cool stores here, where the " check" cheese are being kept. As soon as the time has elapsed, when the cheese that has gone to England •would normally go into consumption, that is, after brief storage in England, the " check " cheeses hero will be opened up and tested. Later the report on the exported cheeses will be received from Reading, and by comparison of the data, it will be possible to see whether factors associated with carriage on the boats, are responsible for any difficulties regarding quality. ' The /Soft Crowns Nuisance, Openness is a problem'peculiar to New Zealand to some extent, for although other countries send cheese that is at times subject to the Same' complaint; they 'do not suffer nearly as badly in this respect, as we-do. Tf it .can be shown beyond argument, that this defect is due to some small defects in the milk, magnified by the long sea voyage to_ our i market, it will be essential' in the interests of the cheese industry, to introduce some method of paying for milk according to its quality. This is already done at a few factories, but the method is neither as- strict nor as widespread as would seem to be desirable. Soft crowns are another cause of complaint at times, and • one about which a word of warning has been. issued recently by the London manager of the Dairy, Produce Board. There is a very definite reason for them, however, and the remedy is within reach of every factory. When cheese are packed into crates, it is essential that a space of at least half ari inch be left between the cheese and the top of the crate. This is not always done, and sometimes unevenly pressed cheese are packed into crates, on which the lid is actually resting on the cheese. Trie pressure softens the top of the cheese, and by the time the cheese has finished its long journey overseas, and has under, gone a period of storaee on top 'of that, there has been marked deterioration, which means waste to the purchaser, who naturally Drotects himself by paying considerably less for the cheese. It mav take several more seasons" work before the 'remedy for openness in cheese is made apparent. No matter how Jong it takes, the work will have been worth while for the trouble is fairly widespread, and must be responsible in part at least, for the difference always recorded between Canadian cheese prices and those for the New Zealand, made article. - * f: