Butter Production Processes
Throughout the last century, two main types of butter production have been used in New Zealand. Originally butter was produced using the Fritz method of butter production. Now butter is produced using the Ammix method.
The method of producing butter only changed slightly when the new process, ammix, was introduced as an alternative to the fritz method of producing butter. The increase in concentration of cream produced from milk helps increase the amount of butter produced from the ammix process.
One improvement that was made when the main butter making process was changed from Fritz to Ammix was the concentration of dairy milk to cream in the process. In the Fritz process, the concentration of cream is 40% (per NZIC 2010) whilst the concentration of cream by using the Ammix method is 75% (per NZIC 2010). This increase in cream concentration is a positive for the butter industry because the amount of butter and other products increases with the amount of milk converted to butter.
Another scenario that could come out of the butter industry is another butter making process being introduced to the industry. One that improves the already high yield from milk to cream which improves the quality of butter. If this occurred, then both the ammix and the Fritz processes would be less viable than the new process.
The best case scenario is to start to use the Fritz method of butter production again. Because who knows if butter will improve as an export or do the complete opposite. By going back a step we protect this export. By producing less butter in the future we can see if the industry is improving or destabilising and act accordingly by implementing a new process of producing butter or keeping with the same process.
The worst case scenario would be to implement a new process straight away. This process could greatly impact on the amount of revenue that New Zealand gets for the butter products.