Letter to the Editor

It has been widely believed that the development of the use of single strain lactic starter cultures for cheese production was demonstrated and introduced by New Zealander, H. R. Whitehead. This was reported in the History of Microbiology in Australia, edited by Frank Fenner. In it we read:

Whitehead, in New Zealand, showed that use of single strains of Streptococcus cremoris as starter cultures gave more uniform development and closer structure. He also demonstrated the role of bacteriophage in the failure of fermentations. In 1937 W. S. Sutton, of the New South Wales Department of Agriculture, demonstrated a phage attacking S. cremoris strain SUR1.

In 2004 I published a paper correcting the record with regard to Whitehead’s role in the introduction of single strain cultures to the dairy industry based on Annual Reports to the NSW Parliament from 1929–1930. (O’Toole, D.K. (2004) – The origin of single strain starter culture usage for commercial cheddar cheese making. International Journal of Dairy Technology 57, 53–55.) The evidence shows that Walter Stacey Sutton was the father of single strain starter cultures. Since publishing that article I have found further information published by Sutton on this subject. The first paper entitled ‘Bacteriophage in a pure strain culture of Streptococcus cremoris in New South Wales’ (The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 5, 168–169) begins:

Selected pure strain cultures of Streptococcus cremoris have been distributed to cheesemakers by the N.S.W. Department of Agriculture since 1926. Such ‘starters’ have a very favourable effect on the texture of the curd and produce acid at a rate which remains practically constant from day to day.

Evidently he started commercial distribution well before 1930. All of Sutton’s experimental work on cheese making was done at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, now the University of Western Sydney, probably a forgotten legacy at the University. With regard to Sutton’s finding phage attacking SUR1, one of his selected strains, it was not 1937 because it was only in September 1938 that Sutton visited Whitehead for a month to find out how to test for phage. On his return he tested whey from many cheese factories around NSW as well as in Southern Queensland. (I have the information in a file from the time.)

In another paper entitled ‘The propagation of single strain cultures of cheese starter’ (The Australian Milk and Dairy Products Journal, February 1, 1941 (4 pages)) he sets out how to propagate them, researching what problems may arise and their characteristics. At about this time Mr E. B. Rice, the Head of the Dairy Division in the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, visited Sutton to take back to Queensland knowledge of these matters (personal communication by Rice in 1960 during an interview for a job with the Department).

Whitehead deserves all the kudos he has been given with regard to the important discovery of phage attacking an important commercial bacterial culture. However, Sutton established usage of single strain cultures, which made it easier for Whitehead to make his discovery. Sutton deserves to be recognised for his contribution to the advancement of cheese starter cultures.

Desmond K O’Toole, BSc, MSc, PhD