Grants and Contracts Details
Description
The cheese making industry is a very important segment of the US agriculture and produces approximately 25% of world cheese production at an economic value of approximately $ 19.1 billion. Cheese quality has a large economic impact in cheese making and is significantly affected by curd moisture content, a critical ripening factor. Cheese quality and selflife are decreased by excess curd moisture content. The FDA specifies maximum moisture content for each specific type of cheese. The IDFA states that during the period 1990-1997, approximately 50% of the US cheese production was retailed as aged cheese and the remaining 50% was processed cheese (-$6.3 billion in 1996). The current practice is to transfer under grade cheese to processed cheese before flavors have been developed with a price reduction of approximately 15%. Total amount of cheese produced that is rejected for human consumption represents 3.6% of the total value of production.
The goal of this project is to develop an optical sensor technology for monitoring syneresis and control the curd moisture content during cheese making. The extent of syneresis controls the moisture, mineral and lactose content ofthe curd which affects cheese ripening and subsequently the final cheese sensory attributes. Unfortunately there are currently no technologies available for monitoring curd syneresis. This project will study several optical technologies to develop a technology that will accurately follow syneresis in a stirred cheese vat. The kinetics of curd shrinkage and whey fat dilution will be measured using optical techniques. The correlation of the measured optical kinetic parameters with the extent of syneresis will be tested over a broad range of conditions. A validation tests will be conducted to quantify the precision of cheese moisture content control. Successful development of a sensor technology that is able to control curd moisture content will have a large impact on cheese manufacturing worldwide in terms of production efficiency and product quality and consistency.
The primary thrust of this Multidisciplinary and Jvlission-Linked Research program is Improvement of
food quality.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 1/15/05 → 1/14/09 |
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