STANDARDISED CHEESE

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3196, 2 September 1930, Page 5

STANDARDISED CHEESE

WARNING TO THE PRODUCERS.

TRADE JOURNAL’S COMMENT.

Apropos the discussion at the annual meeting of the Kakepuku Coop. Dairy Cd., Ltd., last Friday, it is interesting to note the following from a London correspondent, dated July 11th:—

During the season now drawing to a close a good deal of criticism has been made of the quality of New Zealand cheese. The trade paper, the Grocer, always guarded in its statements, has considered it right and proper to give the producers a little warning, especially about “ standardised ” cheese, which it considers is not enhancing the reputation of the New Zealand cheese generally. “ It is questioned,” says the Grocer, in an editorial in the issue of July sth, “ whether the quality of New Zealand cheese during recent years has been equal to the standard which came in the earlier days of the industry. Views as to the deterioration are so widely held that it can be considered-' that the article, as such, is not giving satisfaction, though no doubt when this fact is made known to the manufacturers in New Zealand they will seek immediately to remedy the shortcomings. Apart from the general criticism of looseness of texture and lack of flavour, there is a growing resentment at the type known as “ standardised ’ cheese. When this * standardised ’ cheese was introduced to the market, traders generally, were inclined to try it before criticising it, despite the fact that they viewed it with a certain amount of suspicion. On making inquiries as to the meaning of the term ‘ standardised ’ cheese, they were not altogether surprised to know that the cheese was, in fact, made from skimmed milk, and on that account could not be described as ‘Full Cream’ cheese. AN UNDOUBTED PREJUDICE. “ Skimmed cheese is no novelty in the trade, and, indeed, used to come in large quantities from the United States of America many years ago, but it would scarcely be fair to compare the New Zealand * standardised ’ cheese with the type of cheese generally known in the trade as ‘ skimmed cheese.’ So long, however, as the cheese is not * full cream ’ there is an undoubted prejudice against it, and as time goes on this prejudice will surely increase rather than diminish. Those who have handled the ‘ standardised ’ cheese assert that, apart altogether from prejudice, the article does not meet -with favour, and on account of the large proportion of New Zealand cheese now coming forward under the ‘ standardised ’ heading, the prejudice is such as to affect as an article of food.

“ Traders assert the inferior quality has already reflected itself in the market price to be obtained, when compared with the price of its competitor, Canadian full cream cheese, and unless New Zealand cheese improves the gap may be so widened as to make New Zealand cheese rank as an altogether secondary article. In view r of the decline in the quantity of Canadian cheese imported into the United Kingdom during recent years, there would seem to be a better opening than ever for an imported cheese of the highest class. We would therefore urge New Zealand dairy farmers to take advantage of the opportunity which now presents itself and, by improving the quality of their prpduce, to gain the higher price. It is not too much to say that the trade in England would welcome the abandonment of ‘ standardised ’ cheese and a return to nothing but the ‘ full cream ’ variety.”