CHEESEMAKING

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1931, Page 2

CHEESEMAKING

DIRTY METHODS ALLEGED UNSHAVEN MAKERS. SEVERE CRITICISM. Writing to the Hawera Star, Mrs. Margaret” T. Harrison, N.D.D., B.D.F.A , Dip., strongly criticises the methods of cheese-making she has seen in South Taranaki. Whether the same methods are adopted in North Taranaki we are not in a position to say, but if so, then it would be well for our dairy factory directors and' managers to take heed of what Mrs. Harrison says, aiid if the methods are wrong, to take steps to immediately remedy the position. It will be seen that she has gained high diplomas in connection with the technical side of the industry, and her fearless comment should not be ignored. Mrs. Harrison says:—

Although I have been for some years in the country I have never before had the pleasure of visiting this district, but, being here on other business, I took the "opportunity of meeting Mr. Veale, who very kindly showed me over several of the "cheese factories. I am very candid, and say that as lojio- as your present methods continue your cheese will steadily get worse. 1 I stood yesterday and saw curd, dripping whey, being hooped. Whey was running in a steady stream from the vat that held the salted curd. How you can expect curd like that to make good cheese is beyond me. Not content with that, however, full pressure was put on right away, and whey was absolutely pouring out of the hoops. Then the finishing touch was scalding water over the hoops. ■You deserve all you are getting from the London critics. In one factory the manager was very anxious to get criticism, and took it in the right way. His finished product in appearance was better than some, but still we were able to detect a bad flavour, and worked back to his starter, which was condemned. We ironed cheese there ready for dispatch which I would have liked to put a private mark on and see it after it had been graded. It will never reach overseas in good condition; intact, it should not be shipped. I hold no brief for Mr. Veale.. I may never meet the gentleman again, but I think the sooner his advice is taken on pure starters, and his instructions on the methods of reproducing starter, and the conditions under which it is kept, are adopted, the better it will be for your products. You have a very able man in Mr. Veale, and a man who takes an interest in his work and knows hia business. He is the man to pull up your supplier, and the man who can prove to him what is wrong with his milk, and if you have a supplier who will not follow out orders after Mr. Veale condemns his supply, get rid of him. One supply should not be allowed to ruin your production, and Mr. Veale and a factory manager should be backed up if they raise any objection to a supply. Your cheese production is in a ehockincr state. If I was examiner of pupils a diploma, I would nave failed them if their cheese was like what I saw. I condemn pasteurising for cheesemaking, and with your conditions in this country it should not be necessary. I saw one very bad thing yesterday, in more places than one; the placing of curd left over before at the bottom of the hoops for use that day. I am visiting factories to-day to see the rennetted°curd and the cutting. You are rushing your cheese far too much. Your cheese “should take 7 to 8 hours to make if you want good results, and if you are going to allow suppliers’ and workers’ awards to rule your methods, then you will never get any improvement, and the sooner you stop exporting the better. I do not like your curd mills. .1 prefer the old-fashioned one that gives a more flaked result, and I think more care is necessary in packing the hoops. Your whole methods have got to be overhauled before you will produce a good article, and when you produce it, dump your price regulation ideas and go out on the markets with your brands up and get the price your product war- 1 rants, not the price the poorest article in the shipment can command. Any factory will strike trouble which cannot be overcome in a making, but I would be ashamed to continue making and hooping the quality of stuff I saw yesterday. I spoke very strongly to Mr- Veale against your not water, supply at the factory to farmers. It is against common sense. MHk cans should be rinsed in cold water first and the scalding water last. You are aiding and abetting bad conditions. Another thing I would not tolerate for one day is the way your workers turn out. I saw men who hadn’t shaved for days. It did not give them a clean appearance. I do not suggest for one moment they were not clean, but I consider they were in a food production factory, that was the work they were being paid for, and they should be made to turn out shaved. The contrast between New Zealand conditions and Continental conditions in that way struck me like, a blow yesterday. I expect some will resent my remarks, but I learned cheese and but-ter-making under Professor Drummond at Kilmarnock Dairy Institute, where I took my N-D.D.; I was at Reading College under Professors Benson and Tis-' da'll, where I took my B.D.F.A. and medal; I was at the Midland Dairy Institute, Derml, also in Somerset, under Miss Cannon, and on a cheese farm near Bath. I took a championship for butter churning at Belfast, and I have judged the outter-making competitions at the London Dairy Show, so I think those credentials are sufficient for my criticism. Still, I am only a woman with the audacity to criticise the great New Zealand industry and its heads, but they need it.