SALE OF CHEESE. (Hansard, 1 July 1930)

§ Mr. RICHARD RUSSELL

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Food and Drugs (Adulteration) Act, 1928, and to control the sale of cheese other than whole milk cheese. The subject matter of the Bill has been before the House continually from time to time during the last year or two on the question of the importation of what is called half neat Dutch cheese. Cheese is sold under three general grades and when a description like "whole milk cheese" is mentioned, it may be perhaps well that I should describe what is meant by cheese of that description. Generally speaking, cheese may be made from milk from which no butter fat has been extracted, and containing 5 per cent. at least of butter fat. It is described as cream cheese if there has been butter fat added to it, and it contains something like 8 per cent. of butter fat. There is another description of cheese which is made from milk out of which a considerable proportion of the butter fat has been extracted made in this way, and the cream content is reduced from the neighbourhood of 45 per cent. down to something like 16 per cent. up to 30 per cent.

When it comes to the sale of these various varieties of cheese the consumer, of course, knows when he is buying cream cheese, because those who are selling the cheese take care to let him know that it contains additional butter fat. When he is buying whole milk cheese, the cheese that is generally of the type made in this country, he also understands what he is buying, but when cheese from which the butter fat has been extracted is being sold, silence is maintained on the matter and the consumer does not know exactly what he is buying. This is done in this way. You can go into a shop and find a Cheshire cheese exposed for sale containing 45 per cent. of butter fat, and next to it a Cheddar cheese in the same variety, and in between you may find a 1780 half neat Dutch cheese containing perhaps 20 or 30 per cent. of butter fat without any description upon it. The result is, of course, injustice to the consumer, and also serious injustice to the maker of cheese. This is the problem we have to face, and the aim of the Bill is to bring some alteration to bear upon it. When you come to the consideration as to how you are going to change this matter, a great deal of thought has been given by the Farmers' Union and by others as to what can be done. The first suggestion that was made was that there should be an embargo placed upon cheese imported into the country not containing what is the normal butter fat. Instead of doing that, the Bill brings another principle into play. I am glad to say it is the result, not of a private Member coming forward on his own initiative only, but of consultation and agreement throughout all the agricultural districts where cheese is made. Every branch of the National Farmers' Union in all the dairy districts has agreed to the Bill. The National Farmers' Union Council has also agreed to it and it is out of that agreement that it is brought to the House.

It proposes to deal with the matter by instituting for the first time a definite and clear standard for all cheese made, so that all cheese shall have to come up to that standard and that description. That is to say, if cheese is exposed for sale, it will be understood that it contains at least 45 per cent. of butter fat. If it contains less than that percentage, it will have a description upon it showing the percentage of butter fat which it contains, and people will understand that they are buying skimmed milk cheese and not whole milk cheese. It brings in a new principle in regard to cheese-making in this country, and it will apply not only to our own cheese but to the cheese which may be imported. All cheese will have to conform to that standard. Add to that the possibility that in the future we may have a National Mark applied to cheese, and we shall have accomplished that which is desired throughout this country by the agricultural community, first of all, that the people who buy cheese shall know its source of origin, and, secondly, that they shall know of its quality before they purchase it.

1781 I want to emphasise one point in conclusion. Not only will this Bill have a tendency to keep down inferior qualities of cheese, but it will have a distinct tendency to improve the standard of cheese manufacture in this country and elsewhere. I can assure the House that those of us who know the dairying industry in this country, and have to go to those districts, have noticed that in the last 20 years there has been a clear and definite increase in the quality and an increase in the quantity of cheese produced. We want to give an impetus to that tendency, so that our cheese will not only be better in quality, but that we shall increase the output from year to year. If this Bill becomes law, I believe that we shall give to the cheese-makers of this country an impetus towards improving the output of their product and also towards improving the marketing of it throughout the country.