Taranaki Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1905. BUTTER ADULTERATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12866, 26 May 1905, Page 4

Taranaki Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1905. BUTTER ADULTERATION.

111 our last issue » we remarked upon the room there ia for economy in the distribution of, butter in the heavy freight charges for carrying- the butter to London. A matter ol still greater importance to the profclucers is the • adulteration to which reference was made by a deputation which waited on Sir Joseph AVard oil i Wednesday. The facts are that New Zealand butter is being bought in London, sent to 'Holland, "faked" there, and returned to London where it is sold at lower prices than pure New Zealand butter 1 realises. The Daily Mail a few weeks ago referred to the matter, saying, ths^t so , lar the Colonial Governments, the Board of Agriculture, and the Dutch Government have been powerless to stop the fraud. The reason, the iMail says, that colonial butter is chosen for adulteration is that it is especially rich in volatile acids and has a low percentage of moisture. It is bought in the London miarket at about 104s per cwt., shipped to Holland, and after being worked njn with cocoanut oil, bee!} fat, and milk by a secret ' process, is reshipped to England and sold at about 96s per cwt. The process is scarcely likely td long remain a secret, for it is being offered to certain creameries and dairy factories in 'England. A little light is thrown upon the matter by a circular letter sent by the Board of Agriculture to its. inspectors, in which it is jstated that "Messrs — — > are also concerned in introducing the same or; a similar process to buttermakers in this country. They are offering to sell a process to makers for They are also offering casein, at 18s 8d per cwt., and a "mixing article" at 50s per cwt. They state that the^'ttiajking article" ! (which is • imported; from South Holland and appears to be fat of the same kind as that used in thej process followed at Rotterdam) can be mixed with foutter to the extent of .25 per cent., and that ** the adulteration: cannot be detected by analysis. The Board Jare advised \ that thisj last statement is not correct." That, briefly, is what is being done, not only — fperhaps not ( at all — by foreign rivals, "bust "by several large firms in} England. In the 'House of Commons last year a bill was introduced, one of whose objects was j"to restrict the amount of water In ordinary butter to 16 per cent." It was ' withdrawn, and re-intro-fchiced this year with the clause imended thus :—"lt: — "It shall be unaWful to manufacture, sell, or expose for . sale any better containng more thain 16 v per) cent.' of water, • or any 'butter . to which my) substance has . been added jivhereby ,the^ amount ot water in the butter is increased." Some of the trade— those, no doubt, concerned in the offers , of the secret processi — are anxious 1 that the words "or any butter. , . . is increased" shall be deleted. It is teasy to see why they object to the clause, because the profits must be Vcrty^ considerable. | Suppose the)', buy one cwt. of \Kew Zealand butter/ containing 1,21 per cent, of jwaterr-ratlier • a , high percentage, here, we believe— at 104s. 1 They acQd twenty-five per cent, of adul-

terants, hall, say, of casein at 18s 8d per cwt., and half of "mixing article" at 50s per cwt. This will o-ivc them 140 lbs ,of "butter," costing 112s ?d. Iv , the . process water can be added to the extent of 9 lbs., bringing { the • percentage up to 16, the maximum proposed in the bill. Thus the total weight will be I49lbsand the cost 112s 7 d - If this is sold at the rate of 96s per cvt. it will realiso 14°.«, leaving about 30s profit after paying lor the cost of working, etc. The serious feature about the business is that this adulterated butter competes unfairly with the pure New Zealand article, \\V hope the efforts of the Imperial Government, backed up by ■ the .strongest possible representations from the Colonial Governments, , will result in Hie passing of the Butter Bill in such a form as will ( prevent the possibility of such swindling methods.