STANDARDISED CHEESE.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18167, 4 November 1930, Page 9

STANDARDISED CHEESE.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Dairy farmers and all interested in the welfare of the primary producers of the Dominion will bail with great satisfaction the aclion of the Dairy Control Board in recommending that from . November 1 the exportation of standardised cheese is prohibited. It is to be hoped that the. Minister for Agriculture will take immediate action io give effect to the Control Board’s recommendation. The prohibiting of standardised cheese will be a step in putting New Zealand cheese is u dominant position, not

- - «y " ) merely from a quantity standpoint, bu from that of high quality; and whei New Zealand cheese reaches the quality of Canadian cheese, the dairyfarmers of this country will be getting another million sterling annually Dairyfarmers must not, however, thinlthat the return to the making of “ful. cream” cheese, i.e., cheese made fron normal whole milk, will remove all the trouble. It will not. Remedial measures must begin with the supplying of the right kind of milk to cheese factories. At 'the present time a large part of the milk used in cheese manufacture comes from high-testing herds and it lias been shown over and over again by the practical factory managers of the Dominion that high-testing milk .with ils large fat globules does not make the highest quality cheese. The mi'k for cheese-making is that from the lower-testing breeds (the Ayrshire, Friesian and Shorthorn), whose milk with the smaller fat globules and white colour is ideal for making -highest quality cheese. Again, Jersey milk is unsuitable by reason of its yellow

colour, and one of tlie. most experienced authorities in New Zealand slates positively that white cheese made with Jersey milk shows a dirty, Yellowish tinge, and that even in coloured! cheese the colouring matted does not hide this defect. All through the years the suppliers of high-testing milk to factories by reason of payment being made on a butterfat basis alone have been getting overpaid at the expense of the suppliers of the lower- testing milk. It is high time this . injustice was slopped. Here are the main steps necessary for the raising of the standard if. New Zealand cheese to "finest” Q-aih.y: - I (a) the encouraging of the supply of I milk from the lower testing breeds

by a system of payment based on fat and casein content, i.e., on the actual value'of the milk for cheese-making; (b) the ensuring of a clean milk supply by a system of grading of the nuik received at the factory; (c) more c.’.re in making the t cheese. A high New Zealand authority says that cheese making cannot be carried on “ by the clock.” The cheese maker must wait for each stage of development in the , milk and the curd, hnd the time required may vai’y by several hours each 1 clay, according to the state of the | milk and the climatic conditions; (d) j taking care that cheese is properly j matured before it is placed on the Home market; (e) change in marketing ! conditions. The marketing conditions must be made such as will give sale and payment on quality, with less attention" to price levelling returns. . Mr W. A. lorns, chairman if the Dairy Control Board, and Mr A. Ross, Government grader for many years in London, both stress the highly important point that we must supply the cheese that the British public desires, not the cheese we say they should purchase. Dairyfarmers should insist that the Minister of Agriculture take immediate action in this important matter —a matter that is doubly important because the low. prices at present ruling for dairy produce make it imperative that all avoidable losses be prevented. The Director of the Dairy Division, the responsible adviser of the Minister,. has admitted that Mr Walter Wright of London and Mr A. Ross, re-cc-:vtly from London, the two men in most intimate touch with the English marketing requirements, have told him that standardised, cheese is prejudicing New Zealand’s position in the Home markets, and they advised him to

t “cut it out,” in other words, to pro--1 hibit the exportation of standardised ; cheese.—l am, etc., [ J. P. KALAUGHER, ' Secretary N.Z. Friesian Association* i Auckland. November 1. 1930.