CHEESE EXPORT TRADE.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 158, 29 October 1912, Page 4

CHEESE EXPORT TRADE.

IRREGULARITY AND FLAVOUR. ADVICE FROM THE HOME AGENT. The irregularity in the flavour of our cheese is a matter that requires to be remedied, says Mr H. Wright, Inspector of New Zealand Produce in London, in his annual report. Mr Wright says he has seen numerous brands of New Zealand cheese that have been sound and regular in flavour, but to often one found a quantity of our cheese of strong and objectionable flavour. “Off” and rancid flavours had not been much in evidence. In some lines one could examine perhaps four or five vats, and these would perhaps be of very fair flavour, whereas the next one would be of unclean flavour. This irregularity of flavour caused financial loss to the producer. Generally speaking the body of our cheese was fairly uniform and gave satisfaction, but Mr Wright says he has seen brands of cheese at Home that have been stiff, harsh and mealy. These did not suit English market requirements, nor was it desirable to see cheese carrying too mu eh acid tosuch an extent as to cut the colour and destroy the texture of the cheese. Mr Wright says he has only seen what could be termed really weak-bodied cheese on a few occasions. In a few cases he has seen cheese that was tough and “ rubbery ” when rubbed between the fingers, and he also had to record a considerable amount of pastiness in our cheese, probably due to imperfect cooking of the curd in the whey, which again may be accentuated by over-ripe milk, causing fastworking vats. What was wanted in England was a mealy cheese of silky texture, but one containing a good body. Speaking generally, Mr Wright says the bulk of our cheese was too open in make, which detracts from its value. The chief fault appears to be artificial openness, and although fermentation openings of various types have been observed from tinle to time, the percentage has been low, and only seen occasionally. Looseness is also noticeable at times. This appears to be due to free fat, which has prevented the curd tubes from knitting together. This fault does not seem to disappear with age. The representatives of our cheese factories and their makers would, says Mr Wright, do well to follow the advice of the instructors and graders in regard to the building of their cheese; failure to put their best efforts into their work can only result in financial loss to the producer. One does not require to be long in London,, he says, to find out the reason why it is that our cheese does not fetch as much as it might do if the quality was of a higher standard ; we lack uniformity. Care is required to prevent the cracking of the rinds of our cheese, as this peculiarity is not regarded with favour by the Hade in London.

A good many cheese arrived with the bandages split vertically. This will cause considerable financial loss to the company concerned. Mr Wright recommends that no cheese with split bandages be allowed to be sent away from the Dominion, but that they should be retained for local consumption. With regard to the finish of our cheese, he draws attention to care being required in the dressing of the cheese. Exception hns sometimes been made to the large “ lip,” more especially when the bandage has not been drawn up, and the result being a rather unsatisfactory finish. Canadian and English Cheddars do not show this “ lip/’ If we could do away with this “ lip ” it would be to our advantage. Care should be taken to see that cheese is not packed too green. Sufficient time should be allowed for the cheese to remain on the shelves until the rapid shrinkage that naturally takes place during the early stages of the curing process ceases. No cheese should, in Mr Wright’s opinion, be removed from the shelves for the purpose of packing until the tops and bottoms of the cheese are fairly firm and dry. The packing of green cheese is responsible for a good deal of the irregular shrinkage that is complained of by the trade in London. Mr Wright holds that the packing of the cheese should not take, place until at least three weeks after making; after this period the shrinkage in weight would, under normal conditions, be covered by the 2% per cent, allowance recognised by the trade. Packing of the cheese should not take place until the latest possible moment before railing to cool store. It is reasonable to suppose that cheese removed from the shelves and weighed when only a few days old, and then held for some days in a packing-room awaiting transport, will .show a very considerable shrinkage. Allowing for fortnightly shipments, those cheese packed a week or ten days earlier in in individual shipments would show greater shrink-

age in weight than those packed just prior to shipment. In factories where packing is carried out daily it is particularly necessary that the cheese should be of reasonable age before removal from the shelves. High temperature is also a factor to be considered in dealing with the matter of irregular shrinkages. During the season several instances have come under notice where cases have been wrongly numbered. In some instances each ..end of a case was marked with a different number, and again, the marked weights on the ends of the same case did not agree. Particular attention should be given to see that the shipping specifications agree with the numbers and marked weights of the cases. If cheese is submitted to high summer temperatures, any abnormal conditions that have existed after manufacture would be further aggravated, so much so that probably in many cases the character and monetary value of the article has suffered considerably in consequence. Mr Wrght is of opinion that it would pay our producers handsomely to erect up-to-date cool curingrooms at their respective cheese factories, and take such steps as will prevent any deterioration of their produce, due to high temperatures, between their curingrooms and the cool chamber of the Home steamers. The saving in shrinkage and the production of a higher-grade article would return them good interest on the money spent for such a purpose. “I wish,” adds Mr Wright, “to make it clear that I believe that it is as necessary to hold the cheese at normal cool temperatures after packing as it is while in the curing-room. If cheese is submitted to high temperatures for ten or fourteen days after packing the benefit to be derived from cool curing-rooms is lessened to a very considerable degree. I have seen a considerable quantity of our cheese that was shipped from New Zealand during the midsummer season that had suffered very considerably for the want of sufficient protection from the evils of high temperatures. In some instances the battens were saturated with butter-fat, and the cheese were sealed to the centre-board owing to the exudation of fat from the cheese.”

In conclusion Mr Wright says he thinks that New Zealand is working along sound lines, all the defects commented on being due to preventible causes.