PURE BUTTERFAT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4560, 15 April 1942, Page 4

PURE BUTTERFAT

SUPPLIES FOR BRITAIN MANUFACTURING PROCESS The decision of the British Government to take up to 20,000 tons of pure New Zealand butterfat during this season and next will be of considerable help to the dairy farmers of the Dominion, opening up an outlet for their whey butter, most of which would otherwise be largely wasted because of lack of refrigerated shipping space. That New Zealand is now able to supply dry butter-fat, a valuable contribution toward wartime Britain’s demand for fats, is a tribute to the Work of the Dairy Research Institute, the director of which is Professor W. Riddet. Work done by the Institute during the depression in investigating the possibilities of manufacturing ghee for the Indian market—a project subsequently abandoned—yielded useful information for the latest research, about what happens to butterfat when it is subjected to heat. Before the war the Institute was considering the idea of dehydrating butter to be sent to isolated markets as unrefrigerated cargo. Later, when it appeared that Britain might take supplies, further thought was given to the project and a satisfactory method of carrying out the work with the type of plant available was devised. Only pure unsalted whey butter is used in the manufacture of dry butterfat. The butter is melted over a jet of steam and the melted fat and condensed steam are run into a cylinder, which automatically separates the water that settles out by gravity from the butter-fat-water solution. After then going through two separators, the material undergoes a final process of dehydration in a vacreator. It is then cooled and packed in large tins. The Government has agreed to the purchase of equipment which will enable all surplus whey butter and the very small quantity of second grade creamery butter made in New Zealand to be processed into dry butter-fat. Processing will be carried out at Massey Agricultural College and at a factory in the Auckland Freezing Company’s stores, controlled by the Internal Marketing Division. Although the British demand for dry butter-fat may disappear after the war, it is considered possible that a market of value to New Zealand may be developed in other countries to which refrigerated ships do not run.