New Coconut Industry In Samoa

Factory to Can Cream For European Market

From Our Own Correspondent

APIA, April 20.

AFTER lengthy experiments, a com pany to oe called Aloma Products, Ltd., sponsored in New Zealand, win be formed to can and export coconut cream. It is claimed that tne product is a first-class suostitute lor dairy cream.

The factory will be built on Vailele plantation, close to the beach, on land of the Government-owned New Zealand Reparation Estates.

It is hoped that the factory will pro vide a good market for the coconuts grown on Samoan plantations; but tnere is, as yet, no indication of the quantity of coconuts required. Native growers are keenly interested in the project.

SOME 50 years ago, the late Lord Leverhulme predicted that in time the products of the dairy cow would be capable of production direct from vegetaole sources, whilst being cheaper in cost and comparable in quality and nutritive value.

It is generally admitted that the flav our and quality of margarine have im proved tremendously over the years, and that the product of this great industry has been, and still is, of incalculable benefit to the health of the food-short countries, such as England, where the butter ration has been for years as low as two ounces per week.

Not long ago, it was. announced that plans were complete for the production of milk from the soya bean, on a most economical basis, for the nourishment of the underfed millions of China. Now it is announced that, after considerable and patient research, British enterprise has perfected a process for the canning of coconut cream, one of the most delicious and most nutritive items of the tradi tional diet of Polynesia.

The possibilities of canning this rich food have always existed and were, in fact, well known to and studied by Ger man scientists prior to the war of 1914.

It is, however, only due to comparatively recent improvements in cream treatment, and more particularly to the very recent research work, that canning of coconut cream in a form which would be im mediately acceptable to Europeans has been made possible. rE recent test runs made here on a semi-manufacturing scale were en tirely successful. The cream pro duced is in appearance and consistency exactly like dairy cream. The flavour of the raw coconut cream, which to some Europeans might appear somewhat heavy, is reduced to a nuttiness which is most pleasant and unique, without being immediately attributable to the coconut.

Apart from these improvements in pro cessing, the cream retains in full purity the whole of the properties which have made it so nutritive and delicious in its raw state.

By analysis, the processed cream is fully comparable with dairy cream. The new cream contains approximately 42 per cent, fat, 4 per cent, protein, 4 per cent, carbohydrates, 50 per cent, water. Dairy cream contains approximately 40 per cent, fat, 3 per cent, protein, 4 per cent, carbohydrates, 53 per cent, water. The new cream also contains valuable natural vitamins.

It is claimed that the new cream is perfect for any purpose where dairy cream is normally used. In addition, it

is stated that the new cream can be adapted for many other purposes, such as cheese, spreads, mayonnaise, etc.

It is intended that the cream shall be exported in the first place to England, where it is at present illegal to produce dairy cream and where, as was recently announced, even milk will be rationed for some years to come. Even in normal times, dairy cream is expensive and not easy to obtain in the industrial regions of England.

It is predicted that the cream, made up in 8 oz. cans, will retail in England much cheaper than tinned milk, and it would therefore appear that the new in dustry may look forward to a busy and prosperous future. At the same time, the new industry can do much toward taking up the periodic slack and price drops Which have occurred so frequently and painfully in the copra trade and copra industry in the past.

It certainly appears that the produc tion of such cheap, rich food is highly desirable in these days of food shortages, and that it would be of considerable benefit both to the primary producer and to the consumer. * * rOSE responsible for the new product are now planning the first manu facturing plant in Western Samoa, as the coconut there is very rich and the compactness of the nut supply is an added advantage.

A private limited company is being formed in Apia by the individuals re sponsible for the pioneer work, and will be called Aloma Products, Ltd. The cream will be sold on the English market as Aloma Brand Samoan Cream.

The patents of the process will be held by Tropical Food Developments, Ltd., 29 Burwood Crescent, Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand, which company will be responsible for forming the

Samoan company. The two sponsors of the organisation, Messrs. Alan L. Dawrant and R. H. Ridler, who both come from the Midlands, are at present in Apia to prepare the building of the plant and an early beginning of the activities oi the company.

It is reported that American and Indian interests are contacting the pro prietors of the process and that, whilst a tie-up with these interests for inter national marketing is possible, no de cision has been made.

Captain H. T. Kienzle, MBE, returned to his plantation in the Yodda Valley, Papua, late in April. He served with distinction in the Australian Army, in the Middle East and New Guinea. The fact that this decorated officer had to wait 51 weeks in Sydney before he could get permission to travel back to his own home in the Territory is a fair indica tion of what Territorians are enduring at the hands of Australian bureaucracy.