CASEIN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 16, 14 October 1919, Page 8

CASEIN

MANUFACTURE IN NEW ZEALANDi The progress made in the., production /of casein in-New Zealand is discussed fyy thedirector of the Dairy Division of' the Department of Agriculture (Mr. 1). Cuddie).in his annual report. -."Thopreparation of casoin -from skim-milk., orid 'to a lesser extent from buttermilk, ftas'ten continued during tho year," he .CBays.; ;,",The quantity' of the former dealt ■ with amounted to 486 toiis.f and that of the" latter to 60 tons, representing- an increase of. ,165 tons compared with- the quantity, , handled driring the pr'eviijus season. In all, thirty-five precipitating stations have been,in operation, sesenU 'which' were only opened towards the , end of the,year.' One important factor in connection with tho commencement of ..new' precipitating stations on n. somewhat extensive scale in the Wajkato dis-trict-has been the reopening of a number of, skimming stations which were formerly.- closed down .by the introduction of the" home-separation system. If the ' market price for casein remains^ at a payable."level no doubt an additional number of skimming stations will bo rc- .. opened,.-and-this in turn sviil have ft beneficial' effect-'in the direction of improving the quality of. the butter manufactured as compared ' with trat' made from "home-separated cream.' As it has been reported that dairy farmers are now finding that the feeding' valuo of the casein whey returned to them is much greater than expected, others flTe now 'more likely to support the establishment -. ■> of casein, 'factories.

"The quality of a portion of the casein graded for export has been all that ,could .be. desired, but.Vunfortunately, the ''remainder was more or less indifferent and •irregiilar'in quality. A want of uni--foririity in'casein is a very serious fault from" the 'buyer's point of view; therefore, there is less demand for an article of this nature;. The principal reason for the lack of uniformity is the delay which takes 1 place between tho time of the preparation of the, curd and its arrival at the drying station. This causes the development of fermentation, and results ■in (<n. inferior solution from the finished product.' The remedy, of course, is to Save; the drying station located in a cen-tral'-position and at no great dlstanco from. .the..source jf supply.

instructor who attends to tho c'iV"n factories lias,devoted a great deal of time to advising those interested in this branch pf the work, and also to giving practical demonstrations in preparing the product from skim-milk and buttermilk. Tho advice given, however, lhas not always been carried out in detail so far,as the treatment of the buttermilk is concerned. Consequently the product cannot lie expected to create a de,mand for further quantities of this material."