CHEESE STARTERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 July 1939, Page 3

CHEESE STARTERS

REASONS FOR FAILURE. AIR-BORNE CONTAMINATION. After searching investigations at several Taranaki cheese factories and at Massey College, a new theory relative to the failure of certain recommended starters has been evolved and it seems likely that with the knowledge recently brought to light adequate steps may be taken to ensure not only the preservation but also the continued efficiency of cheese starters. The investigation has indicated that much of the trouble with modern starters has come from air-borne contamination in the factory. It has been found in certain factories, where the trouble has been particularly notice'able. that a fresh bottle of starter need be exposed to the air inside the factory for only a few minutes, and in some cases for seconds only, to become “dead.” No matter how clean the factory was kept or how assiduously the staff fulfilled its duties, airborne contamination, presumably from microscopic dust particles, had the effect of neutralising their efforts. The investigators noted a wide variation in different factories, but they satisfied themselves that when the starter culture was adequately protected from exposure to air inside the factory it fulfilled its function perfectly, even when made in an outhouse, as the investigators did in one case with the object of testing their theory. The starter acted with excellent results. When the same culture was prepared inside the factory it was “dead. 1 Following upon these disclosures, one Taranaki cheese company has taken steps to build and fit up an absolutely dust-free room, where a modern type of starter necessary for the manufacture of cheese will be kept artd handled. It was pointed out that a particular strain of starter was necessary if the manager hoped to achieve the superfine grade.