BUTTER INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1916, Page 2

BUTTER INDUSTRY.

THE DOMINION'S OUTPUT, In the course of an interesting report to the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. D. Cuddle, Director of tlie Dairy Division, dealing with, tlie butter industry, says: The reputation which New Zealand holds as a country where creamery butter of the best quality is made has been maintained for many years. Thia good name has been built up as the result of strenuous effort on the part of a section of the producers, backed by practical assistance rendered by the State. It is safe to say, so far as the establishment of a uniform system of manufacture goes, the New Zealand method is not excelled by any and equalled by few countries where the art of buttermaking is a specialised business. The experience of the past year has again demonstrated the " "• success attained when what is known as the "whole-milk" system i g practised. Those dairy companion whose supply of raw material consists mainly 1 in tlie delivery of milk either to the cen tral creamery (butter factory) or to the skimming stations have almost without exception turned out a product which would bear comparison with the best article made in any country that might be named—truly a superfine product, which, if sold ori. its. merits, with the advantage of an all-the-year-round supply, would hold its own .in competition with any other. Unfortunately, the production of this class of butter is steadily but surely declining in New Zealand. It is almost superfluous to ask the reason why, for the answer is obvious to all who are well acquainted with the jliange that has and is still taking place from the whole-milk system of delivery to that of separating the cream on the farm. The year now closed" has aniplified in no, mistaken manner the danger of accepting cream separated on the farms and held there foi two or more days under conditions which to say the least, are so harmful that no perishable foodstuff could pass through the process without being more or less spoiled. That much good cream is received from many' farms is not denied, and to the owners all credit is due. If the same remark could be applied to othei farms, the ground for criticism of this sort would be non-ex-listent. But the age of the .cream in many cases is not its worst fault. The real trouble lies much- deeper than that. Improper cleansing of the utensils, including mechanical milkers, separators, and the premises where the cream awaits despatch to ;lie creamery, is the major rause of inferior butter. Large quantities, of cream tainted in flavor and unfit for the production of firstclass butter thus reach the factories, and these supplies are not rejected, on account of the competition existing between dairy companies and dairy factory proprietors. Only when a delivery may have readied the stage of decomposition is it rejected. To remedy the general defects in the cream accepted an ingenious process of treatment is resorted to at the factory —namely, the neutralisation of the acidity by means of an alkaline agent, which is made effective by the application of a high pasteurising temperature. This treatment is only .a partial success with much of the cream, and the result is a butter low in grade, which-, cannot be expected to stave off the margarine danger of replacement. One district in particular has worked to an unenviable distintcion for its butter as the direct influence of the method in vogue—namely, the wrohg method of home separation. To prevent misunderstanding, let it be said that there is a right method of home separation, which is practised on many farms without injury to the product. There 1» no getting away from the fact that the wrong method of handling the cream on the farnir is seriously lowering the quality of our butter, and, further, it has been very marked in certain districts during the year. The position in regard to the butter industry of the Dominion at present is simply this: The quality in some districts is gradually going back —it has gone back considerably during the past year—and thus the industry a 3 a whole is being affected by a reduction of the general (average. Unless some united action is taken whereby the cream separated on the farms is handled with more care and sent forward Ito the creameries at shorter intervals, and the element of unhealthy competition minimised, it means a further drop in the quality, followed by a reduction in the market value of the New Zealand butteiv