PASTEURIZATION 183 



micro-organisms retards such deterioration and improves the 

 keeping quality of the butter. High temperature pasteurization 

 also destroys the activity of enzymes, some of which are capable 

 of decomposing one or more of the constituents of butter, shorten- 

 ing its life. The destruction of their activity, therefore, furnishes 

 additional protection against deterioration of butter with age. 



At best the great bulk of butter is several weeks old before 

 it reaches the pantry of the consumer, and during this time it 

 is often exposed to unfavorable temperature conditions which 

 stimulate bacterial and enzyme action. Large quantities of but- 

 ter are also stored for a considerable length of time for the pur- 

 pose of holding it over from summer, the time of surplus, till 

 winter, the period of usual shortage. It is, therefore, of great 

 economic importance that the butter have sufficient keeping 

 properties to successfully withstand the deteriorating influences 

 of age. 



Produces Greater Uniformity of Quality. Uniformity of 

 flavor and quality are essential requisites for the successful 

 marketing of butter. The consumer demands that the butter on 

 his table be of uniform quality. With intelligent pasteurization 

 the fermentations in the cream and butter can be more readily 

 controlled, thus insuring greater uniformity of the resulting 

 flavor of the butter of different churnings. Instead of being 

 constantly and entirely at the mercy of the conditions to which 

 the cream is exposed on the farm and in transportation, the 

 buttermaker, by means of efficient pasteurization, is able to 

 modify the variable bacterial flora in cream, eliminating un- 

 desirable ferments and thereby producing a butter of greater 

 uniformity in flavor and quality. 



Where it is desired to ripen the cream, pasteurization assists 

 in confining the ripening process to the fermentations which are 

 desired and to the exclusion of fermentations of known inju- 

 rious effect. 



Destroys Disease Germs. Pasteurization, when* properly 

 executed, also frees the cream, buttermilk and butter from germs 

 of human and animal diseases, thus making the butter safer for 

 human consumption, raising the standard of safety and whole- 

 someness of the product in the eyes of the public and protect- 



