MILK SENT FROM HOLLAND

Southland Times, Issue 23610, 10 September 1938, Page 9

MILK SENT FROM HOLLAND

Bottles 11 Weeks On

Way

APPARENT TREATMENT BY SPECIAL PROCESS

(United Press Association)

AUCKLAND, September 9. A meeting of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council concluded in an unusual manner when, after the completion of the ordinary business, a bottle of milk treated in Holland about 11 weeks ago and brought to New Zealand as ordinary cargo was opened and tasted by the members of the council. The milk, .which was received from a Dutch commercial laboratory by Mr J. Murray, secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Factory Managers’ Association, apparently had been treated by a special process and had the appeaitance and. taste of fresh milk. Mr Murray said he had received four bottles of milk, one of which he was returning to Holland at the request of the producers and another he was sending to Massey College in order that complete tests could be made. He had no information as to the process used, but it had been in operation for several years. The milk was despatched on June 28.

The matter had been brought to the notice of the council, Mr Murray said, as the advantages of finding the best possible treatment for milk should be realized. In winter the quality of the milk was not as good as in summer and if milk could be bottled and put into grocery shops it would solve, the shortage difficulty and reduce delivery costs.

Appreciative comments were made by members, the chairman, Mr J. Goldstine, stating that there was nothing to distinguish it in taste and smell from fresh milk.

The milk was in tall crown-topped bottles, one of which, after being well shaken, was opened by Mr W. C. Neil, technical adviser to the council, who poured some into a sterilized container for testing. Mr Neil will carry out a complete series of tests, with the exception of the rennet test, to find the suitability of the milk for cheese mak-_ ing. The tests used will include those' for ascertaining heat treatment, the bacteriological content, the amount of butterfat and other solids present and whether the liquid contains any preservative. Mr Neil will (report on his findings.