CHEESE MANUFACTURE

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1932, Page 12

CHEESE MANUFACTURE

APPLICATION OF SCIENCE. PROVIDING A PURER CULTURE. There is every indication that scientific as well as practical knowledge of the various processes that go to cheesemaking will be an invaluable asset to those men who enter dairy factories with a managership as their aim, afid already managers are finding that those of their assistants who have had trainino- at Massey College constitute very valuable additions to the staffs. “I have no doubt that science will play a big part in the manufacture of cheese,” Mr. J. A. Adams, manager of the Lowgarth factory, told a News representative yesterday. “The staffs,” he continued, ‘‘realise that a course at Massey Collego is of untold value to them and the older men, who were unable to partake of the benefits that the college can confer, are finding that their lack of knowledge is a serious handicap. Any manager who' has had a man from the college under him knows that the training which the students receive is of great assistance to them in their work.” , In his capacity as an examiner to Massey College prior to his coming to Lowgarth, Mr. Adams gained a fund of valuable information, especially in his association with Professor W. Riddet. A practical illustration of the application of science to a branch of cheese manufacture is afforded by the method he has adopted, based on scientific investigation, of making a pure culture from which to promulgate his starter. The usual method in New Zealand was to provide the starter straight from selected cans of milk from certain suppliers, and the starter might or might not be clean, he said. Mr. Adams uses what is practically a laboratory, method. He thoroughly sterilises a glass container and then places the starter culture in it and seals the mouth of the jar with cotton wool, which prevents the entry of any foreign matter. Then he places the jar in a special steam-heated can and heats it for four hours at 210 degrees Fahrenheit, which is sufficient to prevent deleterious bacteria from operating. The temperature is then dropped to 70 degrees, at which it is maintained overnight. In the morning the culture is as pure as it is possible to get it, and Mr. Adams considers that that method of securing a culture free of foreign substance lias been a big contributing factor in the production of nothing but finest grade cheese since the season began. This starter is known as the Lowgarth major starter, and because of its purity is in demand by the managers of many other factories in Taranaki.