Half-a-century hasn’t cheesed James off

By Geoff Adams

Mar 27, 2024

James Harris at work in the Stanhope Fonterra kitchen. The samples of mozzarella have to get past him before the cheese leaves the factory. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

When James Harris clocks off on April 5 he will have achieved 50 years of work, but had things turned out differently, he might not have made the milestone with his employer.

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On a warm December night in 2014, his workplace burned to the ground, and for a few months it was not clear if the factory would be rebuilt and production would resume.

James was working as a master cheese grader at Fonterra’s Stanhope factory at the time the fire destroyed the cheese room and he recalls the speculation about what would happen.

“The factory was in limbo,” James said.

“There was a thought that the site could be turned into a milk depot and collect milk that would be sent to Gippsland or the Western District for processing.

“We’d just been through a drought when milk supply dropped severely.

“But the mozzarella produced out of New Zealand was very successful, so the board must have decided to invest the $160 milllion here.”

James has played a key role in the development of Fonterra’s mozzarella production at Stanhope.

Mozzarella, you know, the stringy cheese preferred for topping pizzas, is turned out by the tonne at Stanhope and his office includes a professional kitchen allowing him to prepare pizzas for the ultimate taste test.

On a busy day he might have up to 200 samples to test.

James’ interest in food technology developed when he was young.

The son of Girgarre dairy farmers, Beryl and Fred Harris, James had heard his parents talk about the milk testing and he wanted to know more about how it was done.

After his secondary schooling, James found a job in the laboratory of the Stanhope factory when it was transitioning from the Stanhope Co-operative, to Ibis Milk, under the management of Bill Dove.

Two years after starting work, he completed a diploma with the Gilbert Chandler Institute in dairy technology.

Over the years, James has progressed through cheese production manager, safety manager, laboratory manager, site supervisor, cheese quality coordinator and cheesemaker.

His main interest has always been in testing and assessing the products produced at Stanhope.

“You can’t afford to let quality slip back, otherwise, you are going to lose customers.”

James will have his last day at the factory in April, and formally retire later, after taking long service leave.

He is looking forward to travelling in Australia and overseas with his wife of 38 years, Barbara, and doing some volunteer work with a Kyabram church and the St Vincent De Paul Society.