PASTEURISATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 850, 23 June 1910, Page 4

PASTEURISATION.

INFLUENCE ON THE HOME MARKET. HINTS TO DAIRYMEN. At tho conference of tho National Dairy Association yesterday morning attention was directed to subjects of vital interest to tho dairy farmers of the Dominion. A large, number of dairy farmers attended tho conference, and several Government officials wero also present. The chairman (Mr. A. MacFarlano, president of the association),; in introducing the much-discussed subject of pasteurisation, remarked that tho pasteurisation of cream was now an accomplished fact, and' ho had no doubt that the pasteurisation of skim milk would come in due timo. Meantime, a knowledge of tho subject, promoted by the reading of papers by experts, would hasten the accomplishment of ono of the most important stops in , tho advanco of the dairy industry. ' . Mr. J. Murray, secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Factory Managers' Association, then procHeded to read an address, compiled by the association, from information supplied by somo of tho most prominent factory managers iu tho Dominion, who had adopted tho principle. MR. CUDDIE SPEAKS. WHAT THE DAIRY DIVISION IS DOING. Mr. Cuddie, Government Dairy Commissioner, on being called upon to givo particulars of. experiments mado by tho Department in the matter of pasteurisation, said that, during the past two years, tho Dairy Division had been making investigations, and special at-; tention had been given'to tho matter during the past season. . Fifty-three factories had been working with pastourisers during last summer—about 25 per-cent, of the total number of butter factories in New Zealand. , Tho results, taken altogether,, had been extremely satisfactory. "A Thorough Success." : . Ono or two'of the companies had not been quite successful at the outset, but .thoy had now apparently got over their initial difficulties, and tho operations had now reached tho stage at which it could bo said that pasteurisation had become a thorough success in. New. Zealand, as iu. other countries. The Division of the Department of Agriculture had 'recommended pasteurisation, particularly to companies '-which wero. hot quite satisfied with tho quality of their . butter. The Dairy Division had not ' thought 1 it Wise to advocate the wholcsalo adoption of pasteurisation by dairy companies that were making a first-class article. These companies would no doubt -fall in with the idea later on. Not a Cure-Ail, ' It-was desired that a warning should ho issued to milk suppliers to the effect that pasteurisation was not a cure-all for defects in milk. Suppliers required 4o givo just as much attention /;o tho care of their milk, otherwise tho introduction . of pasteurisation might do moro harm than good. Satisfactory Results with lyhey. A member asked if tlio Department could point to any results from experiments in the pastourisatiou of skimmilk. • Mr. Cuddio replied that tho pasteurisation of skim milk and whey had been receiving attention for two years past. Attention had been directed' to tho matter because of tho 1 spread of.disease among live stock: - Operations had hegun 18 months ago at.the Hawera factory, where tho whey was dealt 'with. Mr. Singleton had carried on the work at Hawera' for. .'somo time,, and it wiiSi found that whey' could be heated toIGOileg. IY at a cost of ljjd. per thou-, sand lb. of milk received, a. steam-' pipe haying been led from the boiler into the whey tank. It was found that, heating above IGOdeg.' caused the albu-' ineu to curdle or coagulate, spoiling the feeding yahio to some extent, for the reason that suppliers could not obtain an equal portion of tho solids. The - Division may, therefore, "be in the position to recommend , that" whey should' bo heate.d up to 'IGOdeg.,. allowed to remain in the tanks until next day, and then given to the suppliers to take homo. ■ Somo 30 factories had adopted that principle last, season. • Skim Milk: A More Difficult Problem. The treatment of skim milk was a more difficult problem. .For the heating of whey, the boiler power in most of tho factories was sufficient, and'the stenm could bo used in tho afternoon when there was little work to bo .done in tho factories.- The heating of skim milk, however, had to bo done in the morning, which was the busiest timo of the factories: In somo instances, expense would have to • bo incurred, for the reason that the present boiler power 'was ' insufficient for the heating of tho skim milk.. An arrangement had been mado with tho Ballance Dairy Company that skim milk should bo treated at the Scarborough factory. A pasteuriser had been" installed, and it ivas found that using live steam the cost was- Id. per thousand .pounds of milk received: When, the exhaust steam was used, the cost was reduced to.l-Bd. ' At Scarborough. ' The conditions at Scarborough wero slightly different from those prevailing at a largo number of skimming stations, there being greater boiler power and a larger engine. When operations were discontinued at Scarborough • tho suppliers had a grievance—(laughter)— for they stated that their stock" did very well on the hot milk. If the Department had been able to carry out tho experiments that had been planned the officials would havo been in tho position to tell dairymen a good deal moro about the scheme. Froth Trouble at Glen Oroua. Work was commenced at Glen Oroua, where 1200 gallons were treated per hour iu a largo pasteuriser connected both with live and exhaust steam. It was found, however, that hardly sufficient steam was available, hut thooperations wero successfully run by tho Department's officers for a clear three weeks. During tho hot weather some troublo aroso in connection with tho froth of the skim milk, which over-

flowed tho tanks. There was no provision at Glen Oroua for treating the froth, and a remedy was found in tho installation of an enclosed stirring machine. It was reckoned that tho cost to suppliers at Glen Oroua would ho 6'd. or 7d. per cow per annum for treating the skim milk. Cylindrical Pasteuriser at Kairanga. Some further experiments had been made at- the Kairanga Dairy Factory, whoro a cylindrical pasteuriser—4ft. long and Sin. in diameter —was put in between tho skim-milk pump and the skim-milk tank. It was found that the milk could bo Oieated up to 176 degrees by forcing only exhaust steam into the milk, as permitted by this apparatus. The small quantity of cylinder oil that might bo present in exhaust steam could he disregarded, for in such a quantity of skim-milk it could'not lie traced at all. It was costing practically to heat tbo skimmilk at Kairanga up to 176 degrees. Those were all tho experiments undertaken by the Department, and he could say that tho Department was prepared to assist any dairy company in putting in a plant for tlto treatment of skimmilk. (Applause.) A Thankful Vote. Mr. Collis, chairman of the Kairanga Dairy Company, said that his company was thankful'to tlio Government for its assistance. Mr.. Miitliieson (Mangaramarama) said' that his company had been successful in pasteurising, the cost being about 2d. per thousand lbs. Mr. Murray said that, in his opinion, tho dairy farmers did not know what tho were missing in pasteurisation. About the London Market. Mr. Dahl, of London, said that he had had experience in tho handling of Now Zealand butter on tho London market. During the past season many brands of New Zealand butter had been received, and, according to custom, samples were- sont out by tho London agents to various parts of England. It was remarkable how unanimous the agents had been in ''picking out the pasteurised product, saying, "These are tho butters that will suit our customers." He considered that the reason for the striking preference for pasteurised butter was because of its close similarity to Danish butter. Pasteurisation appeared to bring out tho flavour and quality, and make it more like, tho world-renowned Danish butter than tho ordinary nou -pasteurised butters. Previously, in the Midlands and North of' England, he had had tho greatest difficulty to persuade buyers to' leave •Danish butter and try the box butters from New Zealand and elsewhere. Renwdy (or Disease in Stock. Mr. 0. J. Keakcs, Government Veterinarian, said that there could not bo two opinions on the value of pasteurisation. The disease in pigs, was an eye-opener, at times, and as ho was responsible for the health of the live' stock of the Dominion, ho was closely concerned with pasteurisation. Ho had mado arrangements at Glen Aroua to earmark pigs which wore being fed on tho pasteurised milk, hut as the experiments had not boon continued, the test was absolutely, useless. Statistics showed that tulj'oroulpsis had been increasing among stock, and it was necessary, in order to provont further spread, to insure that the young stock was fed upon food that was free from disease germs.. Tho process of pasteurisation, if properly carried out, would, ho believed, lie an-.effective remedy. At a .congress held in December last at The Hague, Dr. Bang (principal adviser tt, the Danish Got'criiment) urging that State measures were needed, had said that there was great danger for calves <u\d \v\<«s «\ t\\c wuUs. tKfcv 'dsauk, qv pccially in the skim-milk and whey ror. turned"from creameries.- Dr. Bang advesed the-heating of tho milk to 17Gdeg. .P., but .not over that temperature. American and agreed that .pasteurisation, was a most valuable, process. Iu hcatihg the milk with a view to destroying tubercle bacilli, every effort should he mado to .bring the temperature right up"' to 176 degrees. He 'had examined a sample of (.ho heated milk at Kairanga—l66 degrees—and had found only ono organism, whoso predenco was, ho believed entirely harmless. However, in. order that the germs might be thoroughly destroyed, he would urgo that tho milk should bo heated to a temperature not less than 176 degrees. If pasteurisation was taken up heartily, the saving to farmers would bo expressed in onor-, mous figures. The ■ actual direct loss' last, year through tho condemnation of elnut had amounted to £3»,G00, and the indirect loss must be very much greater than that.. Mr. Sinclair (Bay of Plenty) urged that the association should express some opinum on tho matter, and "ho moved that the association impress upon factory managers the importance of adopting, the principle of pasteurisation. This was agreed to. ■■ A hearty vote of thanks was passed to. the-Factory Managers' Association for their address, and to tho Government officials for information given.