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as the cheese-maker is ready to fulfill his share of the covenant. He roust put the 

 whole milk into the cheese. It has been fully demonstrated by the best cheese 

 instructors of the United States that 6 and even 7 per cent of fat can be worked 

 into the milk and coagulated by the rennet. Thus a rich, wholesome, perfect 

 cheese is the resultant product. 



Scientists and those who devote much attention to the relative value of different 

 foods give cheese a prominent place. There is no food which contains a larger per 

 cent of nutrition when properly made and properly cured, especially when the 

 cheese contains the proper elements of milk, i. e., fat, etc. 



Some of the unscrupulous dealers in our country have got hold of the export 

 trade and have gone far towards ruining the market by palming off on foreigners a 

 half-skimmed white-oak cheese which they can not find sale for at home. Is it not 

 about time to call a halt and to insist on a change in the cheese business? Expose 

 this species of dishonesty and adopt measures whereby the parties who practice 

 deception may be brought to justice. To ask what shall be the national standard 

 for cheese is apparently easy. However, it is not so readily answered. A quarter 

 of a century ago we knew that a New York full-cream cheese was all that the brand 

 implied. To-day the cheese branded New York full cream may, upon investigation, 

 prove to be a skim-milk cheese, made of the rankest, rottenest kind of butter, lard, 

 and other fats. 



During the year 1887 the dairy commissioner of Minnesota deemed it advisable 

 to have a standard fixed for cheese. There was no precedent to guide us, as no 

 State in the Union had taken a step in that direction. 



Data of a most satisfactory character were hard to obtain. It necessitated the 

 taking of samples from each cheese factory in the State; also a large number of 

 samples was gathered from the stores and markets of the .different towns of the 

 State. The next step was to secure data from other States in order to make com- 

 parison and to draw our conclusions. 



By a careful study of our own work and a close examination of analyses of cheese 

 furnished from other States we ascertained that a cheese well made, properly 

 handled, and properly cured would not contain less than 40 per cent of fats to total 

 solids. Some may ask, why not make the standard 30 per cent of fats to the entire 

 amount, regardless of total solids. Many of the States have a standard of milk fixed 

 at 3.50 per cent of fat. To have a less per cent of fat for cheese would result in a 

 lowering of the inilk standard, and, besides, it would work an injustice to consumers 

 of milk. 



Furthermore, it has been thoroughly demonstrated that a full-cream cheese well 

 made, properly cured, and carefully handled until mature has about these constit- 

 uents : 



Per cent. 



Water 32 



Fat 35 



Casein 30 



Ash.. 3 



Total 100 



During the past year we have had analyzed in our department 1,050 samples of 

 cheese. Less than 5 per cent of the entire amount proved to be adulterated below our 

 fixed standard, viz, 40 per cent of fat to total solids. The cheese of the State 

 averaged nearly 50 per cent of fats to total solids. 



It is safe to presume that the full-cream cheese of Wisconsin, Iowa, New York, 

 New Jersey, Vermont, and Massachusetts will be found to contain as high an average 

 per cent of fat as the full-cream cheese of Minnesota. 



