134 GUIDE TO DAIRYING IN SOUTH AFRICA 



urine and dropped into the milk. There are many 

 other forms and conditions of bacteria which get 

 into milk and which give no evidence of their 

 presence until the milk is converted into butter or 

 cheese ; the most common complaint in this respect 

 being what is known as " huffed " cheese. This is 

 a swelled, gassy cheese due to the accumulation of 

 gas beneath the cheese crust, and is the result of 

 gas-forming bacteria, these having gained entrance 

 to the milk before it was made into cheese. It 

 is one of the most common complaints in South 

 African cheese dairies. It is easy to find out which 

 farmer is supplying this gassy milk, for by taking 

 a small sample from each supplier's can and putting 

 each sample in a glass bottle or jar and then heating 

 it to 97 F., the sample which is giving the trouble 

 will be seen with little gas-bubbles rising to the top 

 in about an hour or two. 



We have already mentioned that temperature 

 and length of time or age of products have a great 

 deal to do with the accumulation of these unfavour- 

 able germs, so that the farmer may ask, " Is it not 

 possible for these bacteria to get into the milk after 

 it leaves the farm and while standing in the 

 creamery ? " 



This is a fair question, for bacteria may and do 

 enter the milk at any stage of its being worked up 

 into other forms through dirty surroundings, dirty 

 utensils, or dirty cloths, or slipshod methods of 



