FEED FLAVOURS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 79, 27 May 1946, Page 2

FEED FLAVOURS

MILK, CREAM AND BUTTER

LOCAL FIELDS INSTRUCTOR BROADCASTS

Readers will welcome the following- text of a broadcast presented over station IYA recently by Mr E. R. Marryatt, Fields Instructor for the Department of Agriculture stationed at Whakatane, upon the allimportant subject of feed flavors in milk, cream and butter. The talk will be printed in the form of several continuous articles.

Series I

In our early days, the vast majority of us have consumed large quantities of milk and liked it, but as we have grown older and more selective in our drinking, we have not only drunk less milk but have also become more critical of the flavour of even the small quantity we may USE in a cup of tea. The natural flavour of fresh and pure milk from a healthy -cow is mildly sweet and pleasant to the palate and in general is considered to IMPROVE a cup of tea. Provided there is no interference with this natural flavour, it will also be carried by the cream separated from the milk and by the butter made from the cream. Flavour Producing Faults

Unfortunately, this natural flavour can be and is altered in many ways to produce a multitude of other flavours, a few of which are good but the majority of which are bad. The good ones are made still more attractive by being given pleasing names such as strawberry, raspberry and pineapple, and flavours of this class come out of bottles of concentrated syrup on the shelves of milk bars. All other flavours which supersede natural flavour are bad ones. Some of them which are easily recognisable are “Stale,” “Sour,” “Rancid,’’ “Musty,” “Slimy,” “Fermented,” “Tallowy,” “Curdy,” or “Cheesy,” “Maori Bug,” “Milking Machine,” “Metallic,” “Cowyard,” “Kerosene” and “Benzine” and “Disinfectant” flavours.

Any of these may have been caused by one or more of the following faults in the production, care and handling of milk and cream: NOT properly cleaning and scalding rubbers, vacuum pipes, tank, releaser, separator and utensils; NEGLECTING to properly cool the cream; MIXING warm and cold creams; NOT stirring; SKIMMING to thing or skimming too thick; STANDING cream in the sunlight or leaving it to ling in an unsuitable place; HAVING ODOROUS MATERIALS in the milking shed or near the milk or cream; allowing SMc from the copper or exhaust from the engine to contaminate the cream; OR one or more of-some other possibilities. All these flavours can and should

be avoided entirely by constant and close attention to detail in shed hygiene and in the production, care and handling of milk and cream.

Flavours of another class are “Cowy” and “Ropey” and these are usually caused by unhealthy, excited or over-heated cows or by cows drinking stagnant water or wading in it. Prevention of this class of flavour is easy and obvious.

Bacterial Flavours

In addition to the flavours already mentioned are the type known as “Feed Flavours” among which are “Turnip,” “Pennyroyal,” “Buttercup,” “Coumarin” or “Sweet Vernal,” “Clover” or “Feedy” and most troublesome of all, “Cress” flavour. These flavours are similar to the flavour or odour of the plant after which they have been named, and nearly always they are present in the milk, cream and butter because at least one cow has eaten some of the offending plant not long before milking. I say “NEARLY always” because some feed flavours can arise through bacterial contamination when the cows have not eaten any of the plant of that flavour. One instance, is the bacterium which can cause “Turnip” flavour when there are no turnips, has been isolated. This organism has also been found in the manure of the cow, even after the manure has dried, and this explains what, previous to the discovery of this organism was a puzzle, how cream could have a turnip flavour when no turnips were available. Particles of dust containing the bacteria may be sucked into the teat-cups when they are being placed in position on the cow, and, becoming moistened by the milk, multiply, and develop the “Turnip” flavour. However, all flavors of bacterial origin can be prevented and controlled by constant and close attention to detail in, and around the milking shed. On the other hand, feed flavours which arise solely because cows have eaten certain flavour-producing plants, cannot be prevented by the same means although extreme, care in the production and handling of milk and cream is ALWAYS essential, and without it, other flavours IN ADDITION TO NON-BACTER-IAL FEED FLAVOURS will undoubtedly develop. When this has happened, what was already bad has been made infinitely'worse.