More cheese, please

PASTA filata includes mozzarella, pizza cheese, provolone and kashkaval. Its consumption is fuelled by consumer trends such as ‘quick, easy and 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,” says Ulf Mortensen, application manager at the company’s Cheese Innovation.

“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.”

Chr.  Hansen’s new generation of DVS? STI? cultures (Direct Vat Set and Streptococcus Thermophilus Italian) for pasta filata 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 optimise on milk solids and moisture content, or to steer towards target pH levels throughout the cheese-making process,” says Mr Mortensen.

“When cultures are vulnerable to attacks from bacteriophages there is a risk of many downgrades or high scrap levels. This is a big loss for our customers considering the value of cheese, and there is also a considerable risk associated with the brand equity of large dairies today. At Chr. Hansen we are committed to help cheese manufacturers ensure the consistency of their deliveries. We call it Risk Minus?,” says Anders Groen Noerager, global marketing manager, Cultures & Enzymes Division.

According to Mr Noerager, the new cultures are designed to deliver high productivity to pasta filata manufacturers, whilst minimising the risks and costs associated with process variation and downgrades.

Pectinase 872L is an effective and cost-efficient option, says the company. Maintaining shape, texture and firmness will improve the quality of the final food product; and extended freshness of the produce over time, will save money.  It also becomes a practical choice for manufacturers and processors shipping fresh produce over long distances.

Rich flavour with low salt

Alongside this fruit enzyme, Biocatalysts is also drumming up interest for a savoury flavouring that will allow food companies to cut down on their use of salt.

Food processors are still required to reduce salt use, even as salt consumption has gone down
significantly in recent years. Hence, they continue to reformulate recipes with less salt, and the general concern is how to maintain true and delicious flavours with reduced salt. Biocatalysts has been working with companies to tackle this problem by using enzymes to keep products flavoursome and high quality without the unnecessary addition of salt.  Its FlavAir Force 1 Low Upstep BR