PAY-OUT SYSTEM.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 303, 29 August 1929, Page 6

PAY-OUT SYSTEM.

I DAIRY FACTORIES’ PROBLEM. j Investigations by Scientists. “The publishing of the report of •the federation on the Tokoroa research,” stated Mr. P. O. Veale in his report to the annual meeting of the Taranaki Federation of Cooperative Dairy Factories, “ has resulted in the focussing of public attention upon, the disabilities suf£ered by low testing suppliers in the present system of butter-fat Payments, and, at the conference convened by the federation last December, a sub-committee was set up consisting of Dr. McDowall, of Massey College, Mr. E. W. Huges, of Hamilton, and myself to make enquiries and to report upon the practicability and justice of adopting any other system of paying for milk for cheese-making. Unfortunately this committee was not made responsible to any particular organisation, nor •was it provided with funds for travelling expenses or any other facilities for meeting as a committee. This has resulted in some delay in the publishing of its findings, and actually its report has not yet been I may, however, give some indication of the scope of its activities, in order to show that the mandate has not been forgotten.

“ The committee realised that any departure from present methods •would necessarily involve a casein test, and set itself to investigate •whether casein could accurately be determined upon preservatised samples ten days old. A fie r independent investigations, followed by exchanges of samples and checking of results, certain preservatives were established as effective, and -without influence upon the accuracy of casein tests, while others were shown to cause incorrect results.

“ Recently the committee had an -opportunity of meeting in Palmerston North, when discussion was continued- It was then made clear that there has been no important contribution to the science of milk pay-' payments by casein tests except the casein fat ratio method proposed by myself in the Tokoroa report. From

the scientific point of view the. other members of the committee could neither endorse nor refute findings in which they had taken no part, and in any case, their endorsement without confirmatory evidence would carry no additional weight. A resolution was therefore carried affirming the importance of my findings in -the Tokaroa report, and suggesting that the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research should carry out similar researches in different districts of the Dominion, and collect data over wide areas showing the relationship between cheese yields and chemical composition of the milk. It was felt, that, not until some such widespread research were completed, could any system of payment be advocated with confidence for the whole of New Zealand.

“ Personally, I have no fault to find with this attitude on the part of the committee, and consider that it is additionally wise in view of the spread of the standardising of milk for cheese-making. The system of payment which I advocated in my Tokoroa report a year ago was based upon the assumption that whole milk cheese would be made, and would not apply with any accuracy where varying proportions of milk were skimmed as at present. A modification could certainly be used where standardising is in vogue, and it would still depend upon a knowledge of the ratio of casein to fat, as laid down in the Tokoroa report. Actually I believe that standardising will allow a much mere straight-forward and easily understood system of payment to he devised, because the composition of the cheese is new much more uniform and thus practically all factories which standardise will tend to make a cheese containing almost exactly 50 per cent of butter-fat in the water-free substance. With a knowledge of the ratio of casein to fat in milk, which will make a 50 per cent cheese, it would be an easy matter _to calculate, in the case of each supplier, how much of his butter-fat should be paid for at cheese rates, and how much at only butter rates. High and Low Test Milk.

“ It should he plain to all that where very rich milk is brought -to a factory and part of the fat is skimmed out, the fat left in the milk is j worth payments at cheese rates, whereas that skimmed out is worth only butter raters, that is, butter

rates without the advantage of farm j skim-milk or of extra payments for casein manufacture. • Hence the whole of the butter-fat brought to a standardising factory by a very high testing supplier is still not equal in value to that produced by a low testing supplier with a casein/fat ratio of 0.70 or thereabouts. Part of the butter-fat, namely, the amount which goes into the .cheese, is worth the same, but the rest, which goes into the butter, is worth from 2d to 3d per pound less. Hence although standardising results in an improvement in the financial returns to the factory—an improvement in which all suppliers share—it necessarily cannot bring the price per pound of butter-fat up to the level that would be secured by true low-testing milk j making cheese alone,. unless, of | course, the price of cheese falls con- | siderably while that of butter rises, j “ This means that standardising J only partially makes up for the disabilities from which low testing supI pliers have suffered in Jersey districts, but does not absolve the industry from the duty of seeking a more equitable basis of payment than thei straight hutter-fat method where extremes of test exist.” Discussion at Meeting. At the annual general meeting of the Federation of Taranaki Co-op-erative Dairy Companies there was considerable discussion over the report of the dairy research chemist, Mr. P. O. Veale. Pasteurisation Process.

Referring to the mention of pasteurisation in the report, Mr. A. Pearce,of Kakaramea, gave the opinion that the non-pasteurised cheese was to be greatly preferred. He gave an instance of two neighbouring companies, one of wliich had adopted J pasteurisation and had received a higher grading than the other, which ! did not pasteurise. When the pro- | duce was sold, however, the higher | price was secured by the non-pas- | teurised article, said Mr. Pearce.

j Mr. C. Hawken (Eltham) describ|ed pasteurisation as an expressive ' manner of ensuring cleanliness. He ’ thought- tHat by proper inspection and attention to cleanliness in the ' milk the process should not he necesj sary and on selling results the non- ; pasteurised article was to be preferred.

Mr. J. B. Murdoch (T. L. Joll) proposed that the department should be recognised as the official medium for the district for the testing of standardised cheese. Considerable inconvenience would thus he eliminated. Mr. J. R. Corrigan (Hawera) re-

plied that such a suggestion had been considered by the federation and representations with that objective had been to the authorities. It had been suggested to the Agricultural Department that it should station a representative at the laboratory, but for various reasons, the department was as yet unable to fall into line with the proposal. Modified Cheese. Referring to the question of “ modified cheese,” Mr. A. C. Johnstone, of Auroa, moved as a recommendation to the dairy division of the Department of Agriculture:— “ That owing to the fact that ‘ modified ’ cheese is invariably standardised cheese wliich has fallen only slightly below the fat standard of 50 per cent, it is advisable that the actual fat, content of such ‘ modified ’ cheese should be marked on the crates.”

It would be the ideal to have the fat content stamped on all crates, said Mr. Johnstone. In the case of the “ modified ” cheese the effect of marking would probably mean advantageous sale should, for instance, the fat content be only a point below the minimum of 50 per cent or 52 per cent. The motion was seconded by Mr. Corrigan.

Marking System. Opposition was expressed by Mr. Rundle (Bell Block). He referred to a feeling against New Zealand cheese on the Home markets, and considered it would be very dangerous to sanction anything which might have an adverse influence on quality. Mr. Marchant and Mr. J. D. Conaglen (Pihama) considered that the standardisation process was as yet too young for approval to be given to a system which might be deemed to approve any lowering of quality. The “ modified ” product would go Home on its merits, and would give the buyer a guarantee of its fat content, said Mr. Johnston in reply. He failed to see that the marking would lead to harm.

This was supported by Mr. Corrigan.

Mr. Rundle stated further that at times full ereaVn cheese did not contain 50 per cent of fat in dry matter, though it was above 45 per cent. The branding of less than 50 per cent might have an undesirable influence. The chairman explained that the motion did not refer to full cream cheese, but only that which'was sorted out as “ modified.” The motion was adopted on the voices.