BETTER DAIRY PRODUCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20987, 25 September 1931, Page 11

BETTER DAIRY PRODUCE

IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY. HELPING FACTORY WORKERS. ADVICE GIVEN BY EXPERTS. Methods of improving the quality of dairy produce were discussed at a meeting of Auckland dairy factory first assistants with Government graders and instructors yesterday. " Men who have worked for years at the one factory become so nsed to the flavour of their own particular products and so set in their methods that they | wonder whv their butter and cheese is | nob graded better than it is," said Mr. | H. E. Harvey, manager of the Mount Eden branch of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company, who presided. "By being given an opportunity of ?ampling the butter and cheese of most of the factories in the province, and of discussing difficulties with one another I assistants will be given real help by this | or similar meetings. We have got to leave i no stone unturned in our efforts to imj prove the quality of our butter and ! cheese." ; In an address on the grading of cream, , Mr. W. Dempster, Government dairy inj structor for the Auckland Province, re- ; commended managers to pay more attenj tion to the senses of sight and smell, as j ; well as of taste. He said that at present J i no farmers were penalised by the present ! ; method of grading cream, but really scieu- I tific grading would probably eliminate j i much creain that was to-day graded as j | finest. He touched on the weakness of I : being unable to secure a proper butter- : I fat test ou the factory stage, owing to ' daily variations, and stressed the need of : greater care in neutralising cream from | acidity, to avoid faulty flavouring. Much I of the soda flavour complained of, he ; said, was nob always due to soda con- ; tent of the butter-fat. Other causes were I the use of too much soda in washing out ; the churns and a too-strong alkaline solution in other cleansing operations, j Mr. C. Stevenson, Government cheese instructor for Auckland, impressed the I necessity for attention to every detail in I cheese-making. He mentioned that in ! August or September the cheeses should I be allowed to remain on the shelves at ! I least 21 days and for 14 days in the rest lof the year. The cheese should remain i under pressure as long as possible, alI most a full day if practicable. | The assistants, of whom nearly 50 from i most of the factories in Auckland were I present, were given opportunities of testI ing the products of all the factories when 1 Mr. J. P. Stuart, chief Government dairy ! produce grader, escorted them over the j grading stores in the morning.