DuPont Danisco Creates New Culture That Allows Greater Cheese Volumes from Less Milk

New Choozit Fresh starter cultures have the ability to extract up to 4 per cent more curd from milk than other cultures. At a facility with a weekly milk consumption of 3 million kilos, that can add an extra 16.5 metric tonnes to the fresh cheese volume produced – at no extra cost to the manufacturer.

22 Mar 2012 – DuPont research has created a rare opportunity for quark and other fresh cheese manufacturers to boost their capacity without increasing their milk consumption or investing in extra equipment.

New Choozit Fresh starter cultures have the ability to extract up to 4 per cent more curd from milk than other cultures. At a facility with a weekly milk consumption of 3 million kilos, that can add an extra 16.5 metric tonnes to the fresh cheese volume produced – at no extra cost to the manufacturer.

Most importantly, the fresh cheese product has a clean, fresh flavour profile and is prone to minimal post-acidification.

Choozit Fresh cultures are pH stable and robust toward bacterial attack, and have a comparable, even slightly faster, fermentation time to conventional starter cultures. Designed for direct inoculation in the cheese vat, they also are easy to use.

The range is the fruitful outcome of a DuPont research project aimed at relieving the severe price pressures on fresh cheese manufacturers by optimising their raw material usage.

With up to four litres of milk required to produce one kilo of quark, the vast quantities of acid whey waste were an obvious research target. In particular, the level of non protein nitrogen in the acid whey caught the attention of the research team.

“We found that the non protein nitrogen was the result of protein loss from the milk, caused by the high protein-degrading enzyme activity of the starter cultures, especially bulk starters, during fermentation,” said Annie Mornet, global product manager, Choozit, DuPont Nutrition & Health.

“This protein loss has a direct negative impact on the dry matter content of the curd, reducing final product yield.”

The Choozit Fresh range is the product of the major screening process initiated by DuPont to identify culture strains with low enzyme activity. By maintaining the integrity of milk proteins, the cultures secure a valuable cost optimisation opportunity for fresh cheese manufacturers.

“Our industrial trials have demonstrated excellent results with Choozit Fresh. These also have been confirmed by an independent research institute,” said Mornet.

Choozit Fresh is the latest addition to the extensive Choozit Cheese Culture portfolio, part of the DuPont Danisco range.

DuPont Danisco is the brand for a range of products that help provide enhanced bioprotection, an improved nutritional profile, and better taste and texture with greater cost efficiency and lower environmental impact, meeting the needs of manufacturers of food and beverages, dietary supplements and pet food. Through the work of the global network of food scientists and technologists in DuPont, the Danisco range is supported by a uniquely broad spectrum of know-how across applications and processing.

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