UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 524 
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Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry 
CARL L. ALSBERG, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
May 7, 1917 
DETECTION OF LIME USED AS A NEUTRALIZER 
IN DAIRY PRODUCTS. 
By H. J. Wichmann, Assistant Chemist, Food and Drug Inspection Laboratory, 
Denver, Colo. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 
Methods of analysis 
Analysis of unneutralized creams 
Analysis of dairy products made from un- 
neutralized creams 
Influence of liming on composition of dairy 
products 
Page. 
Effect of impurities in the salt on the percent- 
age of calcium oxid in the salt-free ash 15 
Interpretation of results 19 
Use of lime to renovate old storage butter. ... 20 
Summary 22 
INTRODUCTION. 
The use of lime by central-station creameries before pasteurization 
for the purpose of reducing the acidity of cream before churning 
has assumed considerable proportions. The cream is bought directly 
from farmers at the various cream stations and then shipped in an 
unneutralized state to the centralizing creamery to be manufactured 
into butter. On arrival it is graded into two classes, according to its 
taste and smell rather than its acidity. As the cream often has been 
shipped several hundred miles to the central plant, it frequently 
arrives in a very old and sour state, sometimes with an acidity of 
over 1 per cent lactic acid. Cream with a " bad " taste or foreign 
odor is churned into second-grade butter. If the cream is too sour, 
lime is added in order to reduce the acidity to 0.3 or 0.4 per cent 
lactic acid. The creameries claim to be able to make a good grade 
of butter even from a very sour cream by the use of lime, and the 
butter thus made is said to grade a number of points higher than 
that made from the same cream not neutralized. Hence it has be- 
come a common practice, especially in summer when it is difficult to 
Note. — This bulletin will be useful to officials of State dairy and food departments. 
74363°— Bull. 524—17 1 
