Production of raw milk cheese and content of phyto-estrogens from organic produced milk

The production of organic cheese is mainly based on the production of a number of cheese types, which are also produced from conventional milk. In order to be able to increase the market share of organically produced cheese, it is important that these cheese types are of a quality that justifies an additional price in relation to the conventionally produced cheese. It is often maintained that cheese made from raw milk can obtain a richer sensory quality than conventional products. However, documentation is needed to demonstrate that the flavour of organic cheese is different from cheeses made from pasteurised milk.

In Denmark, the production of cheese based on unpasteurized milk is subject to a very restrictive policy owing to the potential problems with microbiological safety. In order to be able to evaluate the microbiological safety of cheese manufacturing with raw milk, a number of critical control points in the production from raw material to finished product must be established, and suggestions for their monitoring must be made. This can be solved by using a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) from stable to table which will provide guidelines for safe processing procedures. The specific data generated in the project will further be used in a risk simulation model which will take into account the variations in prevalence and concentration of specific pathogenic bacteria encountered in the production, as well as the variations observed in the process- and product parameters which may influence growth or inactivation.

The present project will – based on the production of red-lead putty cheese made with raw and pasteurized organic milk, respectively, from a specific dairy - compare the flavour and texture development by means of texture measurements, flavour analyses based on high vacuum distillation, peptide profiling and electronic nose measurements. It will further develop a generic HACCP model and a risk simulation model for the specific cheese which may serve as a tool for public safety managers.

Publications

Project title
II.11 Production of raw milk cheese from organic milk (RAWMICHEESE)

Project leader
Jacob Holm Nielsen
Department of Animal Product Quality
Danmarks JordbrugsForskning
Postboks 50, 8830 Tjele
Tlf. 8999 1163, Fax 8999 1564
E-mail: jacobh.nielsen@agrsci.dk

Project participants
Senior scientist Stig Purup
Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology
Danmarks JordbrugsForskning
Postboks 50, 8830 Tjele

Dr. Susanne Knöchel, Associate Professor
Food Microbiology section
Dept. Dairy and Food Science
Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL)
Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C.
Tel. 35 28 32 58, E-mail: skn@kvl.dk