HIE CHEESE PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1930, Page 11

HIE CHEESE PROBLEM.

(To the Editor.)

Sir’—lu reply to the letter under the heading “The Cheese Problem,” by “Another Factory Manager,” I beg space for a brief note. I agree with “Another Factory Manager” when he writes to the .effect that our cheese has been brought into great prominence of late, but the general tone of his letter is, if I may say it, very loose in texture, and does not flatter our factory managers. “Another Factory Manager” is anything but consistent; firstly, he somewhat throws ridicule at Mr. P. O. Veale, while later on he craves information from the same gentleman. If the mentioned manager will bear in mind that the department set down a fat standard in the dry matter fur standardised cheese, he must also bear in mind that they made it legal to skim down to the lowest fraction, which justifies Mr. Veale’s tables. He must also bear in mind that the final issue of’the standardisation, that is, the cheese, rested with the skill of the maker, and that the cheese manufactured from milk containing a large percentage of skim was often better than cheese made from milk containing a small quantity of skim. Grading returns will bear this out. Should “Another Factory Manager” read once again Mr. Veale’s report on the Tokaora experiment, he must find that Mr. Veale stressed this point. “Standardisation would not give such good results as the low testing milk.” No doubt our previous writer wishes to make the best quality cheese he can this coming season; so do I. To do this I would advise him to'; firstly, stand up on his own legs and not adopt the jelly fish attitude he has in asking Mr. Veale what percentage of fat in the dry matter he must aim at, for I take it Mr. Veale is not stationed at Hawera to inform a factory manager how to make superfine cheese, nor is he there to act as a peg for factory managers to hang their hats on. Should our factory manager fail to z decide as to whether his cheese is fit to wax or not, I sincerely hope Mr. Veale will hesitate with' his answer, to this question. Lastly, but not least, I will admit that it is the grading points, and the, I presume, familiar grader’s remarks at the bottom, that forces us to make cheese at all. But we must bear this in mind: If we have to wait T 4 days for our grade note and the grader’s remarks at the bottom to inform us as to whether our cheese is superfine, first, or second, too weak, too dry, harsh, open, sweet, acid cut, mottled, or off flavour, I fail to see any uniformity in our cheese for years to come. Should “Another Factory Manager” wish to discuss this matter he may do so, but my final words are, with reference to cheesemaking, these: “See that the raw article is sound, and be it full cream or standardised cheese, make it. —I am, etc-, J. THOMPSON. Manager, Waitoitoi Dairy Co. Waitoitoi, Aug. 9, 1930.