FAKED BUTTER.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12894, 5 February 1906, Page 3

FAKED BUTTER.

* SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES. Messrs George Wall and Co.. produce merchants of Liverpool and Manchester, make sensational disclosures of how the public is cheated in England by the manipulation of butter by unscrupulous dealers, in a pamphlet just, issued. The pamphlet states that unscrupulous traders -were very quick to realise that large profits were being made out of this business, and as it was allowed to continue without let or hindrance, there have sprung'up in various parts of the country, principally in the towns, large factories which manipulate and adulterate butter representing in weight a total of from* one to two thousand tons per week, according to tie time of the year. Some of these concerns were, and are, engineered by very clever men. and they were not slow to discover, in addition to the solids (which they had hiherto been allowed to add with impunity) it was quite possible to further amalgamate from 10 to W per cent, of mixed fats without fear or chance of detection. With certain preparations (the nature of which will be hereafter .-indicated) in the hands of the manipulator, opportunities soon occurred, and were quickly availed of, for making profits of-from 10s to 25s per cwt. It must be remembered, that by the addition of soKd milk and other fluid firing agents, it was on . j£ at tm{t * r conW.be made to hold to 40; per cent, of milk without either becoming soft or unpalatable. " All these mixtures,seem to find a xeadv sale with vthe public, who, instead of thinking that £they are being cheated, swallow without all the specious advertisements i have been nsed to make them beJieve that they are buying an article which Jias been enriched instead of impoverished, phe Board of Agriculture in its report says several thousand samples of butter ;iave been examined at port of entry during Vthe past year, and all were found to be ipuie. What standard of purity was .adopted? What percentage of solids have j'rbeen passed? Many samples analysed by private investigators have been, found to' 8 per cent, of mineral matter, etc., for solids other than fat-

v One process is described ns follows: skim milk is taken, and after pasteurised, is again heated to a temperature of about 80deg. Fah. It is ythen infected with a pure culture of' lactic the same that imparts to butter most of its flavour. The acid is allowed ?to develop to a known quantity, as ascerjStained by a previous delicate test. This point having; been reached, the milk is now rapidly cooled, and will then "be found to have a slightly acid taste, not unlike buttermilk just after churning. Milk so : tieated and added to butter produces a very delicate flavour and butter aroma. The cost is about* one penny per gallon, or" .one tenth of a penny per 161 j '■ In many instances the percentage of foreign fats has been, and -is, greatly in> jjcreased, and from the., few prosecutions | which have taken place, it would appear I4s if the operation had been attended with ; success, at least as far as the manipulator is concerned. In this article a certain proportion of weight of both the original and added material is lost in the process, but in every hundred pounds of the finished article the contents are about as shown.

There are special reasons why commercial margarine is not now used in adulterating butter. These are obvious to the expert, and need not be discussed beyond saying it would not escape the analyst if Wellman's, among other tests, were applied. About 25 per cent, of the butter is placed in the . kneading machine; the solidified milk is then added. Suet and leaf-lard having been previously mixed with coco butter, are then poured in, in a semi-liquid form; the treated milk is next- introduced. Now it is removed from the kneading machine, and allowed to settle for 24 hours, after which period it is worked on the blending table with the remainder of the butter.

Samples prepared in the manner stated were submitted to twenty public and private analysts, and certified as pure. 801b New Zealand butter at 105s per cwtj £3 13s 7d, allowing for deduction of curds and moisture already present, reduces the butter-fat weight to 721b, the cost of which remains the same. ■, " '

£ s. d. 721b New Zealand butter 3 15 7 21b beef suet from which the sbearine has been extracted... 0 10 21b leaf neutral lard 0 0 10 51b best cocoanut oil 0 1 5£ 51b solidified milk 0 0 5 141b treated milk 0 0 1£

1001b £3 17 5 Cost of finished article, 86s 8d per cwt, or 9id per lb. /;"'•" ..- This mixture, although costing less by l?d per lb than the prime cost of the butter) is improved in market value- for some districts by at least another Id per lb, thus exhibiting a profit of 2?d per lb. or about 25k 6d per cwt. MILK BLENDING OR SO-CALLED " ENRICHING." Mixture No. 1.

At a meeting held at the Dairv Show m October last. Lord Xorthbourne presiding, the following resolution inis carried on tue motion of Sir Edward Straehev. M.P.':—"lt is to be deeplv regretted for the fourth, year, the Government had failed to pass the Sale of Butter Bill,

thereby neglecting to prevent the sale of water-logged butter, the sale of which had been declared by the; President of the Board of Agriculture to be an absolute fraud on the farmer and upon the public." Sir Edward declaimed at the injustice done to British agriculture by tile apathy of "the Government of the day. The dairy industry had been sadly neglected, and the dishonest trader had" the best of the honest man. Whereas a few years ago only two companies were engaged in. water-logging butter, there were now aver 100, wherein about 20 per c«nt. and upwards of water was added to the bleud, the base of which come from the colonies. It was a great fraud upon the public, and dishonest tq the British butter-makers. . And yet this Sale of Butter BUI had bec-u read a second time on several occasions, and for the fourth time had been abandoned. The Government should know the mind of the British dairy farmers—that they were dissatisfied at the way they had been treated. There might be a change of Government before long, and it would be wise to let everybody concerned know that its successor should take up the Sale of Butter Bill.

601b Nevr Zealand butter at 103s per cvrt 301b treated milk at Id per gal 101b solidified milk at Id per lb . 2 15 2 0 0 3 0 0 10 1001b q Z ~16 Cost of finished article, 6|d per lb. No. 2. 5 701b New Zealand butter at 103s per cwt 201b treated milk at Id per lb... 101b solidified milk at Id per lb a s. a. 3 4 4* 0 0 2 0 0 10 iOOlb £5 5 4i Cost of finished article, a. fraction over 7|d per lb. Xo. 3. 8Kb New Zealand butter at 103s 101b treated milk at id per gal 0 0 1 101b solidified milk at Id psr lb 0 0 10 1001b Cost of finished aj title, under £3 14 3d per 6 lb.