Integrating new technologies of milk pre-treatment in soft cheese manufacture - a systematic approach.

摘要

The aim of the study was to develop a systematic procedure to adapt cheese processing parameter when integrating new technologies in cheese milk pre-treatment. As a case study homogenization and microfiltration were used to process cheese milk for soft cheese manufacture. At first cheese-making properties were evaluated in lab scale before being transferred into pilot production scale. Gel characteristics (clotting time, gel firmness) were measured by means of oscillatory measurements and a dynamic model system was used to follow syneresis of curd grains of the cut gel. The adjustment of cutting time of the coagulum as well as the curd treatment time of processed milk batches allowed production of soft cheeses with composition similar to an untreated control batch. Moreover acidification could be controlled by duration of pre-ripening time as well as the temperature during processing resulting in cheese with comparable pH. Hence, this systematic approach provides a tool for manufacturing cheese products with similar moisture content. This allows the study and comparison of effects on cheese properties induced by applied technologies by minimizing the effects of different ripening due to variation in moisture.