The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-05-14
FIsHY FLAVOR IN BUTTER.
From the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agri-

| (From the Bureau of Animal Industry, | United States Department of Agri- culture)
 Buttermakers in general have long suffered heavy loss from fishy flavor, | a well-known depreciating factor in the butter trade of different countries. It is not uniformly present, but occurs more frequently in some. countries than in others. For example. it IS much more common in butter from Australia than in the Danish product In the United States it is prevalent in certain sections of the country espec- ially in the newer dairy localities, and one such region is known to commits sion men as the ..fishy belt" The cause of this trouble has been a, mystery and butter experts have been at a loss to account for it's appearance, although many theories have been advanced Since 1905 the Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry has been working on the problem, and its fnves- legations have just been reported by l.. A. Rogers. who sets forth his find ings in Circular 146. which may be ob- tained on application to the Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, D. C. It is believed that his conclusions regarding the cause and prevention Of the trouble will be Of practical value 10 buttermakers.
 Of the undesirable havors of butter the various oily f1avors may be class ed as the most objectionable and trou-
 
 suggestion of oil to a strong flavor Of machine oil. In the latter case the in ferior quality of the butter becomes evident even to the indifferent consum- CT. Fishy flavor, which is one or the most common of the oily f1avors, gives to butter a peculiar oily taste suggest ing mackerel salmon. Butter is frequently described fishy which is merely oily otherwise off flavor. but the typical flavor of f1shy butter is mistaken for other.
 While many things connected with the butter-making industry have been ascribed as the cause, MT Rogers IS or the opinion that fishy flavor is not pro- duced by the action of any one factor but so far as he has been able to as certain the immediate cause is a particular substance produced by the oxidation of one of the combinations of the acid developed in the ripening of the cream. In other words, it is caused by slow. spontaneous, chem ical change to which acid is essential and which is favored by the presence of small amounts of oxygen.
 It has been a generally accepted the ory among buttermakerS that sour cream made the best butter. This idea is reversed by the investigations. which bring forth the conclusion that butter made from sweet cream does not contain the elements that go to make fishy flavor.
 In all the experimental butter made in the last three years there has been no trace of fishy flavor in that made from pasteuriZed sweet cream churned without the addition of a starter. In butter made from pasteurized cream with starter added but without any subsequent ripening there had been no fishy flavor, with one or two doubtful exceptions. On the other hand. many lots of experimental butter made from well ripened cream developed marked fishiness.
 It is evident therefore, that there is a direct relation between the acidity of cream and the development of fishy flavor in the butter. However, as the work progressed it became apparent that the acidity, although having de- termining influence on fishy flavor, was the sole cause. With this factor con trolled it was impossible to make but ter with any certainty that it would become fishy. Frequently butter made from cream with high acidity showed no trace of this flavor.
 It was found that overworking the butter increased the tendency to fish iIiess, ard this flavor could be pro-