DRIED MILK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1676, 13 April 1904, Page 64

DRIED MILK

At Palmerston North at present (writes our correspondent) we have Mr J. A. Meirrett, the inventor of a new system of treating milk known as the JustHatmaker process. Mr Just made the first milk-drying machine, Mr Merrett improved it out of sight and Mr Hatmaker, an American financier, is helping to place it on the market. The new machine is destined to revolutionise the milk industry in this colony and elsewhere. Shortly described, its operation is simply this: The milk flows in at one end of it, after undergoing an extraordinary heat pressure, and emanates from the other end in sheets—a perfectly sterilised milk food. For market purposes the dried milk is reduced to powder and put up in. tins, so l that the consumer of the future will not be dependent on the caprices of the mi .km an. The housewife will* order a tin of powder from the grocer, and the household milk will be prepared Gy simply placing a tablespoonful' of powder in a jug and app’ying the necessary proportion of hot Experiments conducted at the Carnegie Laboratory have proved conclusively that this dried milk is absolutely sterile when it issues from the machine. No kind of disease germ can withstand the heat pressure to which the fluid is subjected in the process of manufacture and yet the taste and flavour of the milk is perfectly retained. As showing the efficacy of the new process l it may be mentioned that during the recent trying summer in New 1 York an experiment was made as to the suitability of this sterilised milk for infant feeding. The resu'ts of these reed-, ing experiments upon 850 children from the poorer districts of a great city are absolutely unparalleled in medical literature. Not one child died; indeed it is testified that all save one throve marveTouslv well on the new food. i Additional interest is given to these facts by the presence of Mr Merrett in this district. His firm having secured the patent rights throughout Australasia he is desirous of demonstrating whether the new process can be run to profit with local material and under local conditions. With this object in view Mr Merrett, together with Mr "D. J. Nathan of Weiljiilgtoa (whose firm is interested m the matter) cattle up from Wellington and drove out to interview the settlers Of Aishlmrst, Stoney Creek, and Bunny the rpe. As a result, the promoters intend to erect machinery for the process at Bunnythorpe. About 4003 gallons daily are required, and Messrs Nathan and Merrett anticipate no difficulty in obtaining that quantity. Three 20-h.p. boilers will be put down at once. A number of the local farmers guar-

emteed a permanent supply at the price offered, viz., lOJd for butter fait, and if delivered twice daily lid per lb. The main objection urged against the new process by farmers is that it leaves no residuum of skim milk for pig feeding, but the inventors of the dried milk claim that pigs would thrive better and he more suitable for export if fattened on the American system viz., a preliminary course of clover, followed by a finishing course of corn. Under the present method a pig bloat® himself N out with an inordinate amount of water to get ait the nutriment in the skim milk, with the consequence that the flesh is of a texture quite unsuitable for export. Experiments in America have proved that skim milk •submitted to the drying ■process has produced excellent results in the way of material for pig feeding. The great advantage to farmers of the new process is that it does away with the large expenditure on factory upkeep, the whole process being done by one machine of comparatively simple design. At anyrate it provides a good alternative to existing methods, and also that the farmer shall not have all his eggs in one basket. This is an important consideration in the-© days when a slump in the butter market would mean a very serious depreciation in land' value®.

The dried milk powder contains a wonderful nutritious power, and it is understood the British Government have placed large orders for it. The chief question, however, that will present itself to suppliers is: Will the extra amount paid for butter fat recompense for the lose of skim milk, as in the dried) milk process there is no such thing as skim milk? If it is decided to’erect the factory at S-toiiiGiy Creek the extra cartage will have to be considered; also, if the “dried milk” process assumes large dimensions how will it affect the butter, calf, and pig markets?