BUTTER AND CHEESE

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1934, Page 12

BUTTER AND CHEESE

QUALITY IMPROVING. LONDON BUYING DEMANDS. The opinion that there had been great improvement in the standard of New Zealand dairy produce, particularly cheese, on the London market, was expressed by Mr. G. M. Valentine, as-sistant-director of the Dairy Division, speaking at the annual conference of the Auckland Dairy Factory Managers’ Association on Thursday. The conference, which was largely attended, was presided over by Mr. W. Hollis, of Hinuera.

Mr. Valentine, who has recently returned from a trip to England, said Great Britain’s importations of dairy produce were so great that New Zealand was only a relatively small supplier. Altogether 16 countries contributed to England’s requirements. Naturally, every shop could not be expected to maintain always stocks of New Zealand butter when there was such a variety available, but any statements that New Zealand butter was hard to procure from retail shops were quite untrue. He had found in conversation with the managers of large chain stores that New Zealand butter had a high reputation, but that buying was done on very small margins, and competition between the various qualities and brands of butter was so keen that relative prices largely determined the buying.

Mr. Valentine said the improvement in cheese had been quite marked, although the defect of openness still remained. New Zealand cheese had to overcome the prejudice caused by the use of over-yields in the past, and, worst of all, the discoloration that had occurred. In the past there had also been losses due to shrinkage, but such were not occurring to any great extent today. He felt sure that New Zealand producers could make great progress, but they should do so immediately. “Our need is not just to hold our present position in the market, but to improve it,” he added. “As far as butter is concerned, it is more true today than ever before that the first essential is good cream, and a better delivery of cream, particularly in the summer months.” Mr. Valentine said he had found that buyers in England paid a great deal of attention to the New Zealand grading marks. In many instances butter was bought over the telephone on the strength of the grading alone. Naturally, difficulty was occasionally caused by the fact that some produce deteriorated after the New Zealand grading had been made. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Valentine answered a number of questions from managers on points in manufacture. He expressed the opinion that there was no need to mature cheeses any more than at present, as most warehouses in England, preferred to mature their own cheese to the standard their particular customers preferred. He said there was great necessity for care to ensure that butter vzas packed attractively, since appearance counted a great deal in retail selling. There was danger in over-salt-ing butter, as it not only covered up the finer flavours of the butter, but also might tend to cause a bitterness. As far as the colour of cheese was concerned, there was great diversity of demand, but generally speaking there were more complaints of under-colour-ing than over-colouring. “The use of ‘starter’ may add brightness to' butter made with good cream, but will never succeed in making satisfactory butter from unsatisfactory cream,” he said in answer to a further question. “Our aim should be to secure good quality cream which will enable us to get the bestquality butter with the minimum of treatment”