THE CHEESE INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 257, 20 March 1913, Page 8

THE CHEESE INDUSTRY.

I A SERIOUS DAGGER. DAIRY COMMISSIONER SPEAKS PLAINLY. A few days ago a cablegram received from London voiced a complaint from Home as to the quality of recent shipments of butter and cheese from certain J New Zealand factories. Experts, according to the cablegram in question, declared the poor condition- of the pi'oiduee to be due to iincleanliness. Following on the abovij, a circular just issued by Mr. D. Cuddie,.Director of the Dairy Produce Division of the Department of Agriculture, to all the dairy companies manufacturing cheese in New ; Zealand is (says the Dominion) of particular interest. The circular, which is dated March 1, several days previous to the receipt of the cablegram in question, is headed, "A Serious Danger to New Zealand's Cheese Industry," and runs as under:—

"There are several most important matters connected with the present position of the cheese industry in this country which it is desired to bring under the notice of the dairy companies and others concerned.

"Since the warmer weather set in this season, much too large a percentage of cheese has been exported from the Dominion. Unfortunately this faulty produce has been more in evidence in cheese from the provinces of Taranaki and Auckland, although that from other districts had been affected to some extent.

J "The early shipments of this class ot | cheese are now being marketed in London, and cable advice has reached us i within the last few days from Mr. J Wright, inspector of New Zealand dairy, 1 produce in London, which confirms the j judgment of our officers on the quality of , the produce before it was loaded into I the Home-going steamers. it appears I that the trade is making serious com- \ p 1 flint .about the quality of our cheese at j the present time. On examination at this end much of the produce was found' 5 to be of poor flavor, such as would undoubtedly increase with age. Then, again, the body of many of the cheeses was too weak for an export article. "The faults that have been complained of can safely be put down to one or more of three causes, viz., (1) inferior milk; (2) ■ over-anxiety to increase the yield of cheese; and (3) lack of cool storage and the unsatisfactory carriage of cheese to the final port in New ZeaI land.

NEED FOR CARE IN HANDLING. • "As to the need for more care in handling milk on many farms and the thorough cleansing of all dairy utensils, much has already been written and said on the subject. The experiences of the dairy instructors tin's year prove conclusively that there is yet a great deal of room for improvement in this connection. Many of the milking-machines in use have been found on inspection to be in a deplorably insanitary state, and in some cases parts' of them have had to be taken to "the factories for cleaning. There is not the slightest doubt that the dirty condition of a large number of these machines is a serious menace to our dairy industry. Some are found to be so very unclean, that it would be impossible for milk to pass through' llretra without becoming badly contaminated and so spoiled as to be totally unfit for the making of good cheese. The rejection of such milk at all costs is the only effective cure for this evil, and managers of factories should be given a free hand in this matter in the interest, riot only of those who deliver sound milk to the factories, but also of the reputation of the particular brand and the good name of New Zealand cheese.

' "The attempts that arc being made to abnormally increase the yield of cheese are proving disastrous, and if continued will end in heavy financial loss. No further comment on this point is necessary, as the remedy is obvious. "At the present' time I believe that cause No. 3 is even more serious than the other two; at least it is certainly so for about three months of the year, when the atmospheric temperature is high. In the first place, there are many districts where the transport of cheese from factory-door to grading port cannot be considered altogether satisfactory. The long cartage which is necessary in | some places is undoubtedly harmful to the cheese. As a matter of fact, in one of the most important cheese districts in New Zealand those engaged in the business are without the conveniences of a railway, with the result that the produce' has to be carted long distances in road waggons. Then, even in places which are conveniently served bv a railway, there is at times a scarcity of proper closed-in vans for conveying cheese to the shipping port, with the result that open trucks covered with tarpaulins have to be used for the purpose. "The present position of affairs is greatly accentuated by the fact that the I cheese industry has expanded so rapidly . and to such dimensions as to have quite outgrown the facilities provided for the proper handling of the produce at some centre. The cool storage accommodation available is akosether inadequate, and where it is provided in some cases' it is not taken advantage of as fully as might be the case.

"This- season already—up to February 20 last—some 20,-107 tons of cheese have been exported from New Zealand, which is an increase of 30 per cent, on last year's figures for the same period. Surely, then, the value to this eoui'h'y of a trade of such dimensions would warrant the provision of proper cool stores wherever quantities of the produce have to be collected! WELLINGTON STOIUGF. SUGGESTION*.

"At Auckland and New Plymouth such stores are provided, although in some cases dairy companies have failed to make use of them, while at Pa tea fne volume of cheese handled is so great that it is absolutely impossible for the freezing works to store it all in cool chambers. At the.Bluff no attempt is made to store the cheese at all. notwithstanding the fact that the industry has grown enormously in Southland during the last few years. It is true that a new cheesestore is being erected in Wellington, but, unfortunately, arrangements are not at present being made for controlling the temperature of it. Large quantities oi cheese from both North and South are centralised in Wellington, much of which is carried to this port in steamers provided with absolutely no means of cooling the holds; and with such a valuable product as cheese this should be tolerated no longer. At present during the busy season thousands of tons of cheese are collected in the Wellington Harbor Board's sheds and held at ordinary temperatures while awaiting shipment, and in many instances it has been found that cheese bearing a first-grade stamp had deteriorated to second-grade in quality before being placed on board the oceangoing vessels. "Although during the last few years many of our dairy companies have spent large sums of monev in building up-to-date curing-rooms for their cheese, in which the produce is protected from excessive heat and the temperature maintained at a degree which gives the best' results in the curing of cheese fresh from the hoops, it is a most regrettable statement to have to make, although a true one, that in many instances the benefits derived from these places are being' ~ .

[fled by the treatment received by tlie J cheese before finally leaving the Dominion. "The defects in the present arrangement.-;, as outlined above, «■•,. most fill to tl.c industry, and s;ieps should be taken immediately to alter the existing condition of affair-. Cheese is frequently loaded on to fho oversea steamers in an unsatisfactory state, owing to the want of proper cool-storage accommodation, and such produce must be some distance! on the voyage before this unwanted heat becomes extracted. The time has come when all cheese shipped from the Dominion Should be handled in exactly the same manner as butter intended for export—that is to say, it should be in a proper cool store for at least four days prior to shipment, while all cheese from coastal ports should be carried in steamers having mechanically-cooled chambers. "The question of proper cool storage and better transport arrangements for cheese is without doubt a most pressing one; in fact, the existing lack in this connection is by far the weakest point in the industry to-day. The matter is. one which calls for the attention of every cheese-making dairy company and cheese-factory proprietor in the Dominion, and it will require united action to bring about the improvements needed, "Damage to elieese of the nature mentioned above affects the industry as a whole; and now that New Zealand is one of the leading cheese-exporting countries of the world, the matter cannot be ignored without heavy and continued loss to the producers of this Dominion."