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Pasta filata, which covers cheese types such as mozzarella, pizza cheese, provolone and kashkaval, is an essential ingredient in home-cooking and prepared meals such as pizza and pasta dishes, sauces and healthy salads.
Global pasta filata consumption is fuelled by consumer trends such as ‘quick, easy & on the go’as well as by a growing middle-class in emerging markets. At the production side, industry consolidation and private label shares push cheese plants to intensify the effort to increase throughput and reduce downgrades.
“A fast and consistent acidification process is essential to pasta filata plants. Traditional cultures for this segment are composed of only one or two thermophilic strains that drive most of the acidification process,” explains Ulf Mortensen, application manager, Cheese Innovation at Chr. Hansen. “Some of these cultures do a great job in an environment with low phage pressure, but are vulnerable, because the impact of a phage attack on one of these strains will have a great impact on the acidification process, i.e. leaving no time to react on slow-downs or simply causing dead vats.”
The new generation of DVS? STI? cultures (Direct Vat Set and Streptococcus Thermophilus Italian) for pasta filata which are made up of multiple strains that have each been carefully selected to provide fast and consistent acidification with the highest phage robustness and the attractive flavour profile associated with cultures in the STI? range and its predecessor the STM? range.
“We have applied the newest culture design principles and compounding technology to further increase culture resistance against harmful bacteriophages, and to reduce culture variation. The series will support the cheese manufacturers’ effort to reduce downgrades and gain better process control, allowing our customers to optimize on milk solids and moisture content, or to steer towards target pH levels throughout the cheese-making process,” says Mr Mortensen.