TROUBLES AFFECTING BUTTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7980, 11 December 1911, Page 2

TROUBLES AFFECTING BUTTER

A TASMANIAN EXPERIENCE. .£SOOO WORTH HELD UP. Tho amount of care necessary in handling all the products of tho dairy will be evident from : tho following extract from tho Tasmanian “Weekly Courier;” Sulphites could' only bo derived 'from fumigating" the boxes ‘by burning ‘ sulphur; 'or usiiig 'sulphur dioxide “for cleansing purposes, and'' they inay be washed out-without much difficulty. On exposure sulphates become oxidised by the- air, and are quite harmless; If trouble is arising with the butter, and bad effects are being experienced from its use, the reason will have to be looked for elsewhere;—‘‘An . extraordinary situation has arisen in the butter trade concerning the discovery of snlohites in butter in-Melbourne. Over .£5(100' worth of butter is being held up, and • this- includes a largo quantity of Tasmanian. A number of factories aro involved, and it is -understood that ‘seven ’or eight brands of Tasmanian butter are implicated.' Tho remarkable-point is that the origin of : the-supposed deleterious • matter cannot be ascertain'd.' The : 'same articles have been need by the factories for years, and it is only now Hunt anything : wrong' has been officially • discover.. ed. - One Tasmanian factory had two consignments made under similar conditions at one place, and one'was : nassed in Melbourne and the other held" up. Also, consignments forwarded since the first were held up a few days ago havo

been passed. The/salt and preservative have been blamed, but in order to see 1 if these were responsible, Mr- Manley, manager of the Tasmanian Produce and Cool Storage Company, sent samples lo Hobart for analysis, and a reply' has been received that these showed no trace of sulphites. Only the colouring now remains, but a standard brand that is used by nearly all factories is utilised, and such a very small amount of this is put into a big churn of ’butter that it seems impossible that this could be tho cause. Factories, of course, have to go on making the butter in the usual way, and the shipments are being continued. The dairy expert came north on Tuesday to make a special investigation, and ho will probably proceed to Melbourne so as to watch tho Tasmanian interests, as tho situation is a serious one to tho factories, for butter containing tho sulphites is threatened with con.fiscation iu Victoria. This, however, *could not be done with Tasmanian butter, which is not offered for sale in Melbourne, but forwarded only for slupnient to London. Any confiscation ot Tasmanian butter, it is understood, must be made under our own State law.