QUALITY OF CHEESE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18845, 7 April 1931, Page 13

QUALITY OF CHEESE.

DAIRY INSTRUCTOR’S VIEWS. Addressing a conference of dairy factory managers at Patea recently, Mr A. C. Ross, dairy instructor at Hawera, who returned to New Zealand last year after several years’ work in the Old Country summarised the faults of Dominion cheese on its arrival at London and the attitude of the trade. “Merchants have complained that there has been a gradual slipping back in quality for some time and especiallv during the past two seasons,” he said. “This was noticeable in a number of the brands of Taranaki cheese; in fact it was quite a by-word on the market;, *m~re of that Taranaki poor quality.’ Or. the arrival of the spring-made cheese of the 1929-30 season and its delivery to the trade trouble was at once experienced with some of the brands that were of poor quality, the majority of these being standardised. On examination, these brands were | found to be showing weak, pasty and I doughy bodies and very loose and I open texture, and some fermentation and sweat holes, and in some instances 1 after being cut and exposed to the air ' they turned sour and vinegary in flavour, and at once became a serious loss to the retailers handling them. “This at once brought aoout a certain prejudice against standardised cheese, vhich forced some retailers to go on to Canadian cheese to try and save their cheese, trade. Those factories which neglected to mrke the best quality aie responsible lor the prejudice and for some of the lowering of f he market values of New Zealand cheese on the British markets last season. The presentation of an attractive and neatly finished cheese always impresses the buyers favourably and facilitates the sale of that brand of cheese, whereas carelessly finished becomes a factor in lowering values. Numerous comments have been made by the trade that New Zealand factory managers show careless workmanship in the finishing of their cheese. Too frequently, an excess of bandage is used, which, if it does not show in wrinkles on the side of the cheese, overlaps too much on the ends i and after becoming loose looks un- ! sightly. I have seen many cheese that, when taken out of the crates, showed i badly cracked crowns, loose cap cloths, and broken lips and mould which had penetrated a certain distance, causing a loss to the grocer when the cheese was cut for counter sale. Another fault with quite a few of our cheese is soft crowns. Our cheese should not evidence this fault providing the cheese have been properly cared for in the curing rooms. “I am sorry to note that to-day there ! are some factory managers who do not give proper attention to the cheese while on the shelves. I have seen some where the cheese for want of turning are allowed to stick to the shelves, and the shelves in a condition that the cheese have no chance to dry out properly on the ends before being packed. Tight packing of cheese has also a serious effect on the crowns of the cheese by the time they arrive in London. I have seen cases of cheese upon the floor of warehouses unpacked for drying purposes producing rather a bad effect on buyers. Cheese out of condition are passed by the usual buyers and appeal only to thoss who look j out for cheap cheese. All cheese should, when packed, have the regulai tion air space of half an inch to each I cheese.”