CHEESE QUALITY

Southland Times, Issue 21431, 27 June 1931, Page 6

CHEESE QUALITY

NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT

STEAM HEAT IN CURING

ROOMS A LEAD REQUIRED (Article No. 9.) Some months have elapsed since the suggestion—then almost two years old- that heating facilities should be provided in the curing rooms of cheese factories was brought closely under the notice of factory directors in Southland, but up to the present no move has been made to install the inexpensive apparatus required, and there is a distinct probability that the new season will open before this necessary work has been carried out.

It is in the early months of the season that curing rooms require heating, as the first of the new season’s cheese has little opportunity to mature properly on account of the unusually cold weather and is hastened on to the market as quickly as possible to meet the demand of a bare market. In the circumstances, the fault of immaturity from which New Zealand cheese is said to suffer is likely to be much more pronounced at this period of the year than at any other time. The provision of a single steam pipe through the curing rooms is generally sufficient to meet the need for heating purposes, and this can be fitted without much expense and as a factory is usually over-supplied with steam, the cost involved in maintaining a warm temperature is not very great. A simple and inexpensive installation has’ been made at Stirling (South Otago) and, although it has only been in operation for a few weeks, it has proved most effective, the temperature of the curing room having been kept up to an even level calculated to assist the maturing process. It has been suggested in certain quarters that the Dairy Division should give a lead in this matter and advise the factories how best the heating apparatus may be installed. At the present time, the department has merely given an indication that the heating of curing rooms is desirable, but has offered' no advice on how the provision is to be made. Probably this omission will be rectified immediately after the conclusion of the National Dairy Association Conference which has been held at New Plymouth this week. Canadian Competition. Much has been said of late concerning the success of the Canadian cheese producers in manufacturing a better quality article than New Zealand, and it has been related on several occasions that Mr J. A. Ruddick, Canadian Dairy Commissioner, visited New Zealand some years ago to study Dominion dairying conditions with the result that Canadian cheese shortly after showed a great improvement and has since been able to command a higher price than the article from this country. A statement made by Mr Ruddick at the annual convention of the Dairymen's Association of Eastern Ontario early in January of this year regarding the advantage held by Canada over New Zealand has just been received and will probably prove illuminating to the industry in the Dominion. After making reference to the premium secured for Canadian cheese in comparison with New Zealand, Mr Ruddick stated:'

“Now, there is, of ’ course, some rtajon for this premium. It is partly due to the smaller quantity of Canadian cheese now on the market, but it is mostly a tribute to the superiority of its quality and the fact that it possesses more of the real cheddar quality than the New Zealand does. That being so, it also meets the demand arising from the diminishing quantity of prime English and Scottish cheddar, which has always topped the market. “Two years ago when 1 made a somewhat similar comparison, my New Zealand friends were rather indignant and I received some rather vigorous protests. During the interval, however, the facts of the situation have been brought, home to them so forcibly that they are now using much stronger language in discussing the matter than I ever thought of using. The whole story is too long for this address, but I shall attempt to sketch the situation very briefly, iny only reason for doing so being because I think it contains some lessons for Canadian cheesemakers.

Defects Enumerated. “The defects complained of in New Zealand cheese are attributed to a number of factors. In the first place, the milking machine is extensively used in New Zealand. It would, in fact, have been quite impossible to have developed the industry to its present proportions, under the conditions prevailing in that country, without the use of the machine. Now, it is well recognized that machine-drawn milk is usually more seriously contaminated than hand-drawn milk. Tho machine may exclude the lactic acid organisms, but this gives the putrefactive germs, from the imperfectly sterlized tubes and other parts, al! the better chance to develop and cause trouble.

“To overcome the bad flavours arising from this type of milk, the practice was introduced of pasteurizing the milk for cheesemaking and we are informed that over SO per cent, of the milk is now so, treated. It is claimed that the cheese from pasteurized milk has more or. less neutral flavour and such flavour as it does acquire seems to be slower in developing. “New Zealand cheese-makers, urged on by their directors, have over-reached themselves too often by increasing yield at the expense of quality. In other words they have left too much moisture in their cheese. Then, because the percentage of fat in New Zealand milk is high, on account of the large proportion of Jersey cows, some one conceived the idea that it would be permissable to remove part of the fat. The suggestion was adopted about, two years ago and a regulation was passed providing for licensing of factories to make what is called standardized cheese—a cheese made from milk from which some fat has been removed, but which must contain not less than 50 per cent, of fat in the dry matter. There seems to be a very serious objection to standardized cheese on the London market, and it is now suggested that its manufacture should be no longer permitted. “There are other factors in the case which need not be enumerated here. Now, I have not made these comparisons to belittle New Zealand cheese. My object is to warn Canadian cheesemakers from falling into the same errors. We must stick to our policy of producing the close, firm-bodied, clean flavoured cheese of the true cheddar .type, which is the finest cheese in the world,” he concluded.