Selection and Treatment of Milk for Cheesemaking

The quality of any type of cheese is without doubt influenced by the quality of the milk from which it is made, from microbiological, biochemical, sensory, and many other perspectives. Raw milk is an inherently variable starting point for cheese manufacture, with its composition, for example, being influenced by factors, such as stage of lactation, diet, and health status of the producing animal, which subsequently determines milk coagulation properties and cheese yield, composition and likely ripening. Protein standardization treatments may be applied to cheese milks to minimize resultant cheese compositional variability. Similarly, milk is also biochemically complex, with a wide range of indigenous enzymes, some of which, for example, plasmin and lipase, are variable in activity and susceptible to processes applied to the milk, while contributing to cheese ripening. Finally, raw milk may act as a vector for bacterial spores and also provides an excellent medium for growth of a wide range of microorganisms. As cheese milk is vulnerable to contamination at multiple points before entering the cheese vat, control of the same for cheese safety and quality is critical.