Cheese Making
Figure 3: Production of Cheddar cheese.
Figure 4: Cheese press
Photo: Courtesy of Lehman’s.
Practical Action
Quality assurance
The quality of milk and the processing conditions that are used for making cheese should be
standardised so that consistent quality products are made each time. This involves control of
factors in the process that affect the quality or safety of the product. These are known as ‘control
points’ and are the points at which checks and measurements should be made.
HACCP1
The specific potential hazards in making cheeses are food poisoning bacteria from the raw milk,
poor hygiene and sanitation during processing, and incorrect processing conditions. Other hazards
that are common to all types of food processing (including contamination of foods by insects,
glass etc.) are prevented by correct quality assurance, including the design and operation of the
processing facilities, staff training in hygiene and production methods, and correct cleaning and
maintenance procedures.
Hygiene
Technical Brief: Dairy processing - an overview gives details of hygiene and sanitation, the design of a
dairy and the use of correct cleaning procedures. Hygiene requirements are also described in
Technical Brief: Hygiene and safety rules in food processing.
Avoiding spoilage
Unclean equipment, contaminated milk, poor hygiene of production staff, and incorrect
processing and storage conditions will each cause spoilage of cheeses. All equipment should be
thoroughly cleaned after use and checked before production starts again. The temperature and
time of heating milk should be monitored and controlled to ensure that it is not over- or under-
heated. In fermented cheese production, the temperature and time of incubation should be
monitored and controlled to ensure that the fermentation takes place correctly.
Raw material control
The milk used for cheese production should be fresh, good quality and free from dirt and
excessive contamination by bacteria. Older milk may impart an unpleasant flavour to the final
product. Technical Brief: Dairy processing - an overview gives details of the methods needed to
ensure that good quality milk is used.
Starter cultures
In some types of cheese making, the correct amount of starter culture and the correct proportions
of the two lactic acid bacteria are both important to produce good quality product. Commercially
produced dried mixed cultures of (Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii
subspecies bulgaricus) can be obtained from many large towns/cities or from suppliers elsewhere.
The dried culture is grown in pasteurised milk (see Technical Brief: Pasteurised milk) and then
1 Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point
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