EXPORT CHEESE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 139, 10 December 1930, Page 14

EXPORT CHEESE

"NEW ZEALAND CHEDDAE"

IS IT SOUND BUSINESS ?

■'Evening Post," 101 li December. ' Tl -was reported unofficially, but it is liclieved that the report is approximately correct, that the Government is giving consideration to an amendment oi' the dairy regulations to the effect that the fat content of cheese for export, other than that described as "full cream," shall lie 52 per cent, as from Ist August to the end of December, and 53 per cent, as from the end of December, to 15th March, and beyond that ■ date. 54 per cent, sucli cheese to bo designated as "New Zealand Cheddar." In this amendment it is thought lies the solution of the "standardised" problem confronting the industry, 'the cheese referred to is, of course, intended for the export trade. South Island cheesemakers are^ "full creamists," and they nave stoutly maintained that in the best interests of the cheese industry of the Dominion as a whole standardised cheese should not be exported. ■It is well understood in the manufacture of cheese that a full cream cheese, may contain a lesser as well as greater percentage of fat than a standardised cheese, but the process of standardisation involves the abstraction from the milk of a certain percentage of fat, which is a profitable practice for the manufacturer and yet the finished article can be made to contain a generous percentage of fat. In short, the consumer is given a cheese which is of standard fat content and not to be confused. with skim milk1 cheese. Nevertheless the standardisation of New Zealand cheese, has had the effect of such confusion. His Excellency the GovernorGeneral put the matter plainly, speaking at the Carterton Show, when he remarked that the question the English consumer asked was "what is this standardised , cheese?" and the answer was that it was cheese made from milk, from which ' some of the cream had been removed. ' The consumer then ■ replied that that was what they called skimmed milk .cheese, and would be willing to pay only a skim milk cheese price for it, irrespective of its quality. But already the British provision trade (as Mr. W. A. lorns, the chairman of the Board, when in London reported) had signified its disapproval of the practice in a questionnaire addressed to the New Zealand Dairy Produce Importers' Association, London, and that body "unanimously agreed" that in his opinion "consumption and prices can only be improved by reversion to full cream cheese." Among the answers on the question of standardised cheese made by the association were the following:— "So far, standardised has commanded market price, but it has become less and less popular, and many large buyers, including public institutions, are insisting on full cream." "There is now a tendency to discriminate between full cream and standardised, as dealers have had time to discover which gives the better results. This tendency, we think, will become far more general." "At first there was little or no reluctance on the part of buyers to purchase standardised, but lately they have prelerred full cream. We are inclined to think a premium for full cream will become (established." "Standardised cheese are not nearly so (popular as full cream, and there is a growing disposition to ignore standardised ii full cream is available." "The trade generally stipulate for full iereain cheese." "Standardised cheese does not sell so tapidiy as full cream." "On quiet markets there is perhaps a tendency to ease the price of standardised more than of full cream." Whether the members of the board are at one on the subject of standardisation by any other name is not quite clear, but the British provision trade appears to be unanimously in favour of a "full cream article and nothing less. Will it then be induced to quaff the same beverage from the same bottle bearing a different Jabel? Canada is New Zealand's greatest competitor in the cheddar type of cheese, 3ciut Canada does not standardise.