The Ladysmith news and Ingram news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1905-1906, 1905-10-28
.nANlNG or SWISS CHEESE.

Wisconsin Experiment Station Discov-
ers Cause of Trouble That Involves
Loss of Several Thousand Dollars.
A defective condition in Swiss cheese
causing a loss of several thousand
dollars has been investigated by the
department of dairy bacteriology OF the
University of Wisconsin and the cause
Of the trouble, together with the rem
edy, form the subject of recent ex-
pertinent station bulletin by Professors
Fl. L. Russell and E. G. Hastings of the
college of agriculture. The expert
ments which they carried on show that
the fermentation in Swiss cheese,
which causes it to split open and spoils
the cheese, is caused by one OF the
budding fungi or yeasts, and that the
only effective method of coping with
the difficulty is to change some of the
present methods and to disinfect thor
oughly the factory and the utensils in
which the milk and cheese are handled.
The defective condition of the Swiss
cheese does not appear while the milk
is being worked up or Immediately al
ter it is taken from the press. After
a week or more, however, the edge of
the cheese begins to crack, and the
split continues, running around the
circumference or across the top OF the
cheese. This is caused by the pressure
of gas within the cheese, the gas being
formed by a fermentive process. Dur
ing the season over two tons of cheese
were utterly ruined, while large por-
ton of another ton was so badly 'af-
fected that it brought only very
small price. The result was loss to
the one cheesemaker alone of over two
thousand dollars.
With fermentation of this character
there is always a difference of opinion
as to who is responsible for the trou-
BILE. as the cheesemaker is apt to blame
the farmer for not handling the milk
with proper care; and the farmer, on
the other hand, usually charges the
trouble to the carelessness of the max
er and the dirty condition of the fac
tory. This investigation of the expert
ment station shows that both may be
responsible, as the yeast organism may
get into the milk either before or after
it is brought to the cheese factory. The
custom of placing whey in individual
barrels for the farmers to remove and
carry back to the farm is the cause OF
much of the trouble with which the
Swiss cheese industry has to contend.
This whey, when taken back to the
farms in the same set of cans that are
used to bring the fresh milk, may read
lily affect the fresh sweet milk unless
the cans are carefully disinfected. A
safer method is to use other recepta-
Giles, such as old discarded milk cans,
for carrying the whey back to the
farms, and to keep the milk cans for
milk alone.
AS the yeast organism may live in a
dried condition on the walls or floors
of a factory fully four months, the
cause of the difficulty may be carried
over from one season to the 9th er. The
only effective method of eliminating
the trouble, therefore, is the thorough
disinfection of the factory. For this
purpose heat is the most effective
agent, and if steam is at hand momen-
tary exposure is sufficient to destroy
the organisms vitality. For washing
the walls and floors Of the factory 2
per cent solution of hot I've was found
to be very satisfactory. The holding of
the whey until it sours SO as to allow
the butter fat to be skinned off, to-
gether with the soaking of the rennets
in the whey and the use of this rennet
solution for curdling the milk,a two
other methods generally in vogue in
Swiss cheese factories that favor the
development of these obnoxious organ
isms By preventive measures, the in
vestigation shows, the difficulty can be
overcome.-W.