The 115-year-old Hungarian Dairy Research Institute
The 115-year-old Hungarian Dairy Research Institute could best introduce itself in one sentence as follows: We are one of Hungary’s oldest reputable R&D and services institutes in the food industry aiming to develop the dairy industry, milk production, and the manufacturing of quality food products, continuously consolidating and monitoring food quality and food safety.
Let’s start with “one of the oldest reputable…”
After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the country experienced remarkable economic growth mostly driven by intensive cultivation and animal breeding.
The introduction and continuous improvement of intensive farming and the quality control of the derived products required a solid scientific and institutional background. Agricultural development and research were undertaken at experimental stations that proliferated during the Dual Monarchy. The Hungarian Royal Dairy Experiment Station was established in 1903 in the town of Magyaróvár (the official name of Mosonmagyaróvár at the time).
The agrarian ministry had a good reason to select Magyaróvár as the seat of the Institute. Not the least, they did so because of the professional and scientific environment the Hungarian Royal Academy of Farming in Magyaróvár had fostered for nearly a hundred years, and because the north-western region of old Hungary was one of the most important hubs of domestic dairy cow breeding.
Ignác Darányi, the minister responsible for agriculture in the early 20th century, appointed Imre Ujhelyi—a member of the Academy, the founder of the Cattle Farming Association and the creator of the dairy cooperative of the villages in Moson county—as the director of the Institute. Ujhelyi, who had a degree in veterinary sciences and agriculture, started his job in the current building of the Institute with a chemist, a bacteriologist, a butter- and cheese-maker and two unskilled workers (servants). The building also hosted the Hungarian Royal Chemistry Experiment Station then.
The controlling authority entrusted the Institute with the following tasks: the continuous chemical and bacteriological testing of milk samples, the development of new skimming and pasteurisation procedures, the production of butter and cheese cultures, the testing of dairy machinery and tools, and the support and constant control of dairy cooperatives. The Institute conducted 7 to 8 thousand routine tests a year the majority of which were aimed at the examination of milk fat. Based on these test results, the dairy cooperatives of farmers and manors could classify their milk and pick their cows for breeding.
Through his practice, Ujhegyi contributed to the creation of the Hungarian Óvári cheese and helped develop the production technology of the pungent, yet very popular Illmici cheese.
The Institute was held in high esteem internationally, authorities in the field like Bernhard Bang, the world-famous bacteriologist who was the first to describe Brucella abortus, also paid a visit, just like Christian Barthel from Sweden, the founder of dairy bacteriology. In 1909, Budapest hosted the 4th International Dairy Congress with more than a thousand attendants where the Institute could also bolster its reputation.
Ujhegyi was followed by another veterinarian and certified farmer, Ottó Gratz. During his term from 1909 to 1934, the Institute moved to the building on Lucsony street where the bulk of its work is still carried out. With the expansion of its floor area, new laboratories were set up and a pilot plant suitable for industrial-scale pasteurisation and the production of butter, cheese and processed cheese was established. It was in this plant that the methodology for the production of the Tilsiter-type Óvári cheese had been worked out.
The production of Emmental cheese and Roquefort-like cheeses started in Hungary through the advocacy of Gratz. Under his control, an advanced course in dairy farming and the dairy industry was launched in 1926 to provide an opportunity for learning the theory and practice of dairy farming and production at a high standard, as stated in the decree that established the course. He is also known for contributing to the publication of Milk and dairy productswith a special focus on the production of butter, cheese, condensed milk and other dairy products (A tej és tejtermékek. Különös tekintettel a vaj, sajt, a tejkonzervek és egyéb tejkészítmények gyártására), the first dairy farming book in Hungarian with over six hundred pages.
In 1934 the Institute was remerged with its parent institution, the Chemistry Experiment Station where it continued its operation as the Dairy Experiment Department. This unit was again headed by a veterinarian, Károly Vas, whose short term of office (1934–1936) was mainly dedicated to research in dairy microbiology. Together with József Csiszár, the next director, he co-published a paper on the Vas-Csiszár aroma reaction, a procedure still in use to examine the aroma production of butter cultures.
1936—when the Institute became an independent entity again—saw another veterinarian, István Nyíredi at the helm. He was not in charge for long, under his short leadership he mainly focused on dairy microbiology and dairy hygiene. It was under his supervision that a technological model plant was built.
In 1940, József Csiszár—the brother of Vilmos Csiszár and a veterinarian—took over the management of the Station. At first the remarkably practice-oriented researcher worked on cheese processing and studied the theoretical and practical aspects of processed cheese making as well as the microbiology of the required cultures. In 1941, he launched the Dairy Farming (Tejgazdaság) journal which soon became an international reference point in dairy research and practice.
The Institute was then basically paralysed in a Hungary torn by war, its equipment was shipped to Germany. The machinery and instruments taken were later on found intact packed in five freight wagons. They were brought back to Hungary in 1947 to enable a fresh start.
The postwar years were dedicated to reconstruction. Oddly enough, and without precedent in Hungary, the same József Csiszár who had been appointed to this position in 1940 remained at the helm of the Institute.
Collectivisation presented the Institute with new tasks. The production technologies for large-scale dairy factories that were to replace small or medium-sized cheese and butter plants had to be worked out. During this time, the Institute came up with modern methods for the large-scale production of hard cheeses (e.g. Pannónia) and semi-hard cheeses (e.g. Lajta).
In the four years following the death of József Csiszár, the Institute had three directors in a row. Gábor Tomka, Mihály Balatoni and Ferenc Varsányi all chose dairy technology as their main field of interest.
In the 50’s and 60’s, the research efforts of the Institute centred around cheese-making as the country saw a massive rise in its cheese export. New technological procedures were developed, options of producing sheep’s milk cheese on an industrial scale were explored, the modes of production automation were studied and the possibilities to prevent certain “diseases” affecting cheese were examined. Besides methods to make cheese from pasteurised milk, a modern production technology for Pannónia cheese was worked out and ways to enhance the quality of Emmental cheese were developed.
The succeeding directors, Béla Hunkár and Ferenc Ketting were helped by outstanding researchers such as Gábor Pulay and Géza Szabó.
A division in Budapest was established in 1962 and a field office in Pécs was set up in 1970. In the early 70’s, the number of employees on these three sites grew to 100. The supervisory authority of the Institute also changed—in 1968 the Trust of Dairy Companies took over the reins from the Ministry of Agriculture.
From the early 1970s until the turn of the millennium, research focused on the comprehensive development of product and production technologies. This era saw the development of homogenisation processes, dairy spread-making practices, membrane separation techniques as well as the technology for the production of cream cheese by ultrafiltration and vacuum evaporation. Connections between the dairy industry and environment protection were also explored. The above research efforts began under the directorship of Ferenc Ketting and continued when György Babella took over as director. The latter had brilliant colleagues to contribute, such as László Stark, Sándor Szakály and Miklós Szegő, to name a few. The researchers at the Institute held several patents which were and are still applied successfully both in Hungary and abroad (feta cheeses, milk protein concentrates, high-fat cream cheeses, etc. produced by ultrafiltration).
Work to introduce a state-of-the-art raw milk classification system began in the 80’s. With András Unger heading the Institute, laboratories were set up to enable the establishment of modern procedures of raw milk classification.
Researchers turned their mind to probiotics and prebiotics in the 1980’s. These research projects are still ongoing and offer the prospect of robust pharmaceutical and commercial benefits.
The Hungarian Dairy Research Institute became a private limited company on 1 January 1993. To learn more about our operation as a business association and how we rise to the challenges of today, read the next part of the article.
Dr. István Kótai
senior lecturer
HungarianUniversity of Veterinary Sciences
Dr. Róbert Kocsis
managing director
Hungarian Dairy Research Institute Ltd
References:
György Fehér:
A mezőgazdasági kísérletügyi állomások szerepe a dualizmuskori agrárfejlődésben [The role of agrarian experiment stations in the evolution of agriculture during the Dual Monarchy]
Mezőgazdasági Múzeum, Budapest, 1994
Róbert Kocsis – István Kótai:
Imre Ujhelyi munkássága és szerepe a Magyar Tejgazdasági Kísérleti Intézet megalapításában [The work of Imre Ujhelyi and his contribution to the establishment of the Hungarian Dairy Research Institute]
XXXVI. Óvári Tudományos Nap, 2016
István Kótai – Róbert Kocsis:
Arcok a régmúltból. Imre Ujhelyi [Faces from the past: Imre Ujhelyi]
Kamarai Állatorvos, 2017. 2. sz.
András Unger:
100 éve alapították a Magyar Tejgazdasági Kísérleti Intézetet [Established a 100 years ago: The Hungarian Dairy Research Institute]
Tejgazdaság, LXIII. 2. (2003)
