April 3, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 255 



Dairy Produce Factory Premises and 

 Manufacturing Processes: 



The Application of Scientific Methods to their 



Examination. 



L. T. MacINMES, Dairy Expert, and H. H. PvANDELL, Assistant to the Biologist. 



The manufacturer of dairy produce has always some trouble to contend with, 

 for milk and its products lend themselves to rapid deterioration, especially 

 through bacterial agencies. It was with a view to minimising such 

 troubles — by presenting to those engaged in the industry such information 

 as might be gained from scientific and practical investigations on the 

 spot — that the scheme of examining butter factories and the manufac- 

 turing processes carried out therein was initiated and approval obtained for 

 the services of an othcer of the Biological Branch of the Department of 

 Agriculture to be placed at the disposal of the Dairy Branch. Apart 

 from the ordinary every-day things that are always awaiting solution, we 

 have what might be classed as seasonal epidemics, such, for instance, as 

 the mould infection with which a great many factory managers had to 

 contend some two summers ago, and the effects now being felt of an 

 extremely dry season. These influences need special inquiry as they 

 arifce. The present series of investigations, however, does not specially 

 deal with these epidemic troubles, but is confined to those that form part 

 of the daily routine of certain factories inspected. 



In the first case to be dealt with we have effects arising out of old 

 and faulty premises badly situated from a sanitary point of view ; in 

 other cases it had been noted that the choicest brand of butter marketed 

 showed deterioration, more or less marked, whenever it was held in cold 

 storage for any considerable length of time. The causes of this deterioration 

 in quality have been traced by means of our investigations, and satisfactory 

 remedial measures taken. 



As it is intended to commence this series of articles with the I'esults 

 obtained from an old bacterially contaminated factory, it is considered 

 advisable to end it by way of contrast with those from one of the 

 most modern — a factory built on the latest sanitary lines, where fresh air 

 and sunlight have been recognised as the greatest of gerriiicides and freely 

 admitted accordingly. 



Some ten years ago the Alstonville Co-operative Dairy Company had 

 trouble with the quality of the butter then being manufactured, and an 

 ofiicer of the Dairy Branch investigated the matter and successfully used 

 atmospherically exposed plates to trace the origin of the infection causing 



