'Brewery Malt May Not Be Needed’

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31003, 8 March 1966, Page 12

'Brewery Malt May Not Be Needed’

The use of malt in brewing may soon be eliminated or at least reduced if a process being studied by a former New Zealander and a team of research workers in Canada is accepted in this counliy. Dr. R. A. Latimer, a research scientist heading an industrial fermentation group actively concerned with the industrial application of enzymes, said that sufficient progress had been made to alert the brewing industry. He said New Zealanders were apparently sufficiently willing to investigate the new process, whereas in other parts of the world brewers were somewhat reluctant to depart from tradition. Dr. Latimer said he was specifically involved in the production of enzymes from microrganisms. Enzymes were entities which broke down complex molecules into more simple compounds. The use of enzymes in brewing would eliminate the use of malt and thus reduce costs, or a smaller amount of malt could be used. Dr. Latimer delivered a paper on the subject at a conference of the Australian section of the Institute of Brewing at Auckland recently. Dr. Latimer said his company in Canada and one in England and another in Sweden had what they called an inter-company research alliance, of which New Zealand Breweries, Ltd., had recently become an associate member. This represented a significant step in reducing the isolation of the New Zealand scientist, said Dr. Latimer. Isolation was some handicap because the New Zealand scientist did not rub shoulders with his fellows as readily as could be done in other countries. Industry must be developed and the financial return must be there to reward the years of study and experience.

Industry and university must be made attractive, and not only financially. Dr. Latimer was born in Timaru and did some undergraduate work at the University of Canterbury. He gained his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and he and his Canadian wife now live in London. Ontario. It is Dr. Latimer’s first visit to New Zealand in 16 years. He said there had been great improvements in tourist facilities and accommodation and some of the cities had become more cosmopolitan but he had not seen anything that would tempt him to return to New Zealand to work.