THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 June 1925, Page 12

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE. ELIMINATION OF RIM. AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. All important subject was brought before the notice of the annual meeting of the New Zealand Factory Managers’ Association. by Mr. W. E. Gwillim (Assistant Director of the Dairy Division), who stressed the need tor the elimination of the rim from cheese. He said:— Attention has been directed to this matter many times during the past few years. One of the latest statements is contained in the report of the overseas delegation of the Dairy Produce Control Board. It reads as follows: “On every hand it was apparent that losses are being incurred by individual factories, and the industry generally, by the rim on the cheese. This unquestionably causes considerable loss to the retailers, and has to be allowed for in their purchases. We much regretted to see this fault in our cheese at the exhibition. Attention has been drawn for some time to this fault. Many factories are now using hoops which obviate it. In some cases the losses were very serious, the flies having entered the breach, and a large amount of decomposition had set in. We are of the opinion that in the factories’ own interests the exportation of cheese with this objectionable rim or lip should be forbidden." I believe the longer we delay effecting the improvement desired, and as our proportion of the cheese imported into Britain increases, the greater will be the number of complaints about the rim. Canadian cheese, we understand, are all without a rim. Our proportion of rimless cheese is probably around 10 per cent. During the ten years ended June, 1924, the imports of cheese into Britain averaged, in round figures, about 13'2,000 tons per annum. For the year ended 1915 the Canadians supplied 62,10'2 tons, and New Zealand 3'2,515 tons. For the year ended 1924 Canada supplied 47,881 tons, and New Zealand 71,515 tons. The difference in the proportion is remarkable. From these figures it is evident that a larger proportion of cheese dealers are getting cheese which they do not like, as far as the finish is concerned. Further, it is reported that a considerable quantity of our cheese are re-exported from Britain to ■Nprth America, for the purpose of being m-ade into what are termed “Prepared" cheese. The cheese required for this purpose are to take the place of their own. We may accept it that the users would prefer them without a rim. On our part we have been advocating the production of cheese without a rim for several years. If we were in any doubt as to the disadvantage of the rim it was most decidedly set at rest during the period of the war, when many thousands of cases of cheese were held in store for prolonged periods while awaiting shipment. The weakness of the rim was apparent to anyone at a glance. For some time we have been cutting the grade points for finish for ail cheese of not good finish for cheese made in the usual type of hoop. This has had a satisfactory result, insofar as many cheese-makers have commenced to give the question of producing cheese without a rim some thought, and others have been spurred to take action. Some dairy companies have asked the question whether a higher price can be assured for cheese made without a rim, and as we cannot give them the answer they would like their interest in rimless cheese appears to cease. We would be fairly safe in suggesting that a higher price is hardly likely to be obtained for cheese with a rim.

An examination of the weekly prices quotations for Canadian and New Zealand cheese on the London market for ten years, 1915-24, indicates an average price of about 122 s for Canadian and 118 s for New Zealand cheese. Allowing for marketing fluctuations, etc., may we hot ask is not some of this lower price for New Zealand cheese due to our cheese having a rim. We would not, however, treat this matter wholly from the price viewpoint. The matter appears to us to be one of service. All other things being equal, the producer rendering the best service is most likely to secure the best of the trade, and the fullest advantage therefrom. To supply the trade at Home with cheese with a rim when cheese without a rim is desired is to force something on the trade which they do not want, and to render the trade, and ultimately ourselves, a disservice. We consider the present time the most opportune which cheesemakers have had for many years to make a forward move towards the elimination of the rim from our cheese. There are now a number of hew pattern cheese hoops, and also several different attachments for the usual style of hoop which enable cheese to be made without a rim. Some of these are undoubtedly practical, and have been on use for upwards of two seasons and over. New patterns are constantly coming forward. Materials for making hoops or attachments and alterations are in ample supply, and at prices more reasonable than at any other time since the war.

All that seems to be required is the display of a little more enterprise on the part of cheesemakers generally, and the rim of our cheese will soon be a thing of the past. Our cheesemakers have shown abundant enterprise in many directions, and we hope they will not lack enterprise in this. In concluding, he stated that he was pleased to that of the 182 cheese that he had examined 41 per cent, were without rim. This showed that makers recognised the importance of the subject. He trusted that during the coming year managers would get busy so as to cease making cheese with rims. Mr. Murray moved: “That this meeting of dairy factory managers views with concern the apathy with which some factory directors regard the adoption of rimless cheese hoops, and wishes to emphasise its importance to the industry." r

This was seconded by Nir. Woods (Ngaire) and carried.