BLACK SPOT IN CHEESE.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 2

BLACK SPOT IN CHEESE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir.—Black spot in Now Zealand coloured cheese is reported to he the reason for the big dilTerenee in the price of white and coloured on the English market. It is also ■ reported that the cause cannot be located. 1 have been, making a few inquiries and observations in a quiet- way in a certain district. One thing that I found Was that some factories had gone right out of making coloured cheese, while others are practically immune from the trouble. 1 have visited a number of sheds which supply milk to one particular factory which gets the'black spots badly, and which now makes only white cheese, and found two things were being done on each place which might be the cause of the trouble. One was that these farms were sending milk to the factory (and it was being accepted without question) which simply reeked of swede feeding; indeed, one farmer told me he did not intend to grow any more soft turnips as he got better milk returns from swedes and they lasted longer. Anyone who has run their winter house cows on swedes for a few weeks in the winter could easily be persuaded that the milk from a whole herd fed on swedes would put blaQk spots through the colour design of a drum of paint-. The second thing I noticed was that most of the sheds have not a supply of really boiling water eviry day with which to sterilise the machines, and that the farmers soak their machines all day in a mixture of water and Jeyes Fluid, and, to make matters worse, they even, wash the cows’ teats with the same mixture immediately before putting the teat cups on. Perhaps these things have nothing to do with black spots in coloured cheese, but an up-to-date private company fearful for its good name would not run the risk.—-! am, etc., ANIT-JEYES-SWEDES.