GRADING BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3016, 3 January 1912, Page 14

GRADING BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Of all the various duties carried out by the officers, of the Dairy Division, perhaps the grading of butter and cheese is the most onerous. The system has been in force for 17 years, and there are now eight gazetted posts at which the grading may be carried out. No dairy produce is permitted to leave New Zealand until it has been graded and marked with a Government stamp, indicating its degree of quality at the time of shipment. All cheese and butter is graded first, second, and third, and anything below the lowest grade is condemned. How highly these grade certificates are esteemed may be gauged from the fact that for many years merchants have made their purchases on the basis of the grade certificate of quality and weight. It appears from the annual report of the Department of Agriculture that 17,509 tons of butter and 22,253 tons of cheese were graded last year, an increase of 3 per cent, for butter, and a decrease of £ per cent, for cheese. Very much larger outputs would have resulted had the season been a normal one, but the drought was severe and told its tale. The quality of the “creamery” butter in the earlier* part of the season showed a marked improvement on the past year, due to the adoption of pasteurisation. After December, however, a slight falling off in flavour was noticeable, mainly owing to home separation and infrequent delivery. Passing reference is made to the want of cool storage for cheese at Wellington and the Bluff, where the produce had to be examined on the trucks, and this entails loss to the producer which might easily be avoided. Money can surely be found

for such a necessary work. Some of the cheese factories seem to have been more successful than others, but, taken all over, the cheese of the Dominion has been of a high average quality, and was shipped in good order and condition. No less than 3683 samples of butter were tested for moisture content, and of these 2816 were creamery, the remainder dairy or milled. There was ascertained to be 14.02 per cent, of water in the former and 13.33 in the latter. The factory samples graded were more irregular in regard ,to moisture content than Mr Cuddie cared to see, and he states that dairy companies have made heavy losses on this account, “If buttermakers would use ordinary care and check the moisture content of every lot before it leaves the churn, there would be no difficulty with this important feature of the dairy industry.” The folly of adding water to milk with a view of increasing the return from it is severly commented upon and its futility indicated. _ During the year the instructors have visited 32 different districts to confer with the settlers regarding the establishment of new factories, and 24 of these have been erected, while a number of others will be in operation before next season. Plans for these and recommendations as to plant are supplied by the division. Approved plans of milking sheds, simplied as much as possible, are also available on application.