David Moore, of Processed Cheese Technology, looks at how, with the right know-how, processed cheese can perform numerous functions and solve a variety of problems
The formulation and production of processed cheese remains largely based on traditional knowledge and methods, despite the fact that its use continues to expand. This is particularly so in areas such as food service and industrial products, but also in retail products, notably the lunchbox and snacking markets.
Understanding the traditions of processed cheese manufacture remains key in designing and producing new products – especially where this knowledge can be transferred into new methods. Technologies and formulations that have been used for over a century can be applied to make new products that are relevant to today’s market.
Whilst the guidelines for traditional cheese production are important, a reluctance to break away from standard procedures and compositions can hold back the development of new or more cost effective products. Using traditional methods along with up to date formulation and labelling can, however, lead to successful new product development.
Alongside established traditions, the cheese industry is undergoing continual change. Worldwide, the processed cheese business has consolidated and become highly competitive. The sector has also seen a move to outsourcing and a coupling of retail production with that of food service and industrial production. There has also been a new focus on developing markets, which are being targeted by established producers in co-operation with local producers.
Due to the continued appeal of cheese from a nutritional and flavour point of view, demand for new ideas and products is expected to remain strong. Additionally, the rising price of dairy ingredients and finished products should provide greater opportunities for more cost effective products in comparison to natural cheeses. Processed cheese and similar products can not only be developed to perform functions that natural cheese never could but, additionally, this can be done at a reduced cost.
While the production methods used in processed cheese manufacture have changed over the years, this had been less the case with formulations due to the constraints of legislation. Producers, in some ways, have been slow to launch new products that challenge historical labelling and declarations. Although production methods have become more automated, the formulation of processed cheese has only slowly embraced the use of non-dairy ingredients, as the traditional market demands that the product remains all dairy. There has, however, been a move towards automating the processes of blending, cooking, cooling and storage, and continuous cooking is replacing batch cooking. The need to reduce packaging waste has driven the development of more efficient packaging and warehousing handling solutions.
Despite these constraints, higher prices for dairy products - the result of rising demand and less support, particularly in Europe - has, however, increased the trend of substituting dairy ingredients with non dairy ingredients.
As long as cheese remains a healthy option, manufacturers will be called on to supply ever more functionalities. Characteristics such as moisture, protein and pH boundaries are already being stretched in the search for new products, for example liquid cheese, and to improve the cost effectiveness of existing products.
Processed cheese packaging is also still relatively conservative at retail level, although advances have been made in convenience packaging, snacking, ease of opening, etc. At food service and industrial level, deskilling and packaging reduction have come into play, and this can lead to complications at the point of cheese production. Fortunately, many of the production methods currently employed can be used for a wide variety of products in terms of functionality, flavours and shelf-life. A single process cheese cooker, for example, is a reaction vessel that can produce sauces, spreads and blocks with little modification.
Processed cheese is defined by the term “melting”, ie when the protein in natural cheese is liquefied and softened to flow and produce a smooth, homogenous shiny product due to the application of heat and shear. This process is achieved with, or without, melting salts, the basic function of which is to ion exchange calcium with sodium conferring water solubility characteristics on the protein, thus enabling it to emulsify fat. For this process to occur, protein must be present, heat and mixing must be applied, and the pH of the mix must be within a certain range.
However, it is the variation of the levels of these parameters, amongst others, that allows for different products to be developed. For example, the age of the protein used, the type and level of melting salt, whether high shear or low shear mixing is used and the heating temperature applied. A product cooked to 75 degrees centigrade versus 140 degrees centigrade, therefore, looks completely different, as does a product containing only citrate melting salt versus phosphate melting salt, the first tending to be matt in appearance, the latter shiny and reflective.
All of these parameters and others are inter-related and changing one may necessitate the adjustment of another to achieve a desired result. In addition to these standard parameters and the standard raw materials used in processing - such as natural cheese and milk powders - more and more additives are being examined for a variety of reasons, including, starches, carageenan, enzymes, flavours and non dairy ingredients.
Processed cheese products can generally be divided into the following categories:
1. Retail finished products:
l individually wrapped slices
l cheese spreads in tubs and triangles
l string cheese
l snacking cheese
l lunchbox solutions
2. Food service applications:
l slice on slice (cold fill)
l Cheese and savoury sauces
l Shredded and diced cheese blends
chilled and frozen
3. Food manufacturing applications:
l block cheese for ready meal and pizza
l Liquid cheese for quiche and
savoury pies
l Cheese flavours
l Cheese for meat applications
l Soft Cheese for dessert applications
For many of these applications, the same formulation procedures apply, despite the end usage being completely different. So, for example, the use of precook or rework in cheese triangles to develop texture by creaming - aiding mouthfeel and filling efficiency - can also be used to adjust functionality in industrial cheeses, while block cheese for industrial applications is similar in formulation to burger slices. What is surprising, however, is that traditional methods are still very useful in modern applications.
When developing a product for a particular market, close attention to, and exploitation of, basic principles is a good starting point. The percentage of protein and fat, the age of cheese used, addition and type of emulsifying salts are all important considerations. What is also important to understand is that, while traditional formulation guidelines are important, it is often possible to push the boundaries of composition, flavour, pH and processing methods and still arrive at either a standard product or an unexpected new product.
An example of this would be that emulsifying salt suppliers caution against the over use of salts due to the risk of crystallisation in the product - regarded as a quality defect. This defect, however, can be exploited by using crystallisation in a processed or imitation cheese to mimic the appearance of hard grating natural cheese. In addition, the “normal” compositional parameters of processed cheese can be overstepped in this product by adopting a very low fat content and a very high carbohydrate and dry matter content. This ensures that the product does not suffer any oiling off during production and achieves a short brittle structure, like natural grating cheese, on cooling to refrigeration temperature. With the addition of a good cheese flavour, the product looks and tastes similar to a more expensive natural grating cheese.
Examining composition limits often occurs in food service cheese applications. In many cases, processed cheese is required to perform functions that natural cheese cannot in terms of controlled meltability. A disadvantage of slice on slice cheese formulations, however, is that the high dry matter required to achieve the necessary firming up on cooling and elasticity on processing is the result of an expensive formulation which is unnecessary in the final product functionality. That is to say that the consumer of this product is not always interested in whether the product has a high fat or dry matter content.
More cost efficient, natural looking cheese slices can be obtained via a low fat processed cheese formula with a high modified starch content, hot filled into moulds and allowed to cool. When sliced, the starch gives a grainy surface similar to a mature natural cheese. The product may have an application in more valued added sliced cheese with different flavours
and more suited to short flexible prod-uction runs.
In retail cheese, the ever-present problem of how to fill a school lunchbox has given opportunities to manufacturers to come up with innovative packaging and appealing marketing formats. This is a market where the labelling is much more critical than others as cheese is viewed as an attractive healthy alternative compared to other food items that find their way into children’s diets. Additionally, packaging innovation is often more important than the functionality of the finished product.
Processed cheese manufacturers face many similar problems, regardless of their location or scale of operation. These include: exposure to fluctuating raw material prices; consistent raw material sourcing; project management and closure; openness to new methods and ideas; and, how to approach the requirements of a new business or market. Most issues are practical in nature and manufacturers generally build up their own know-how. The storage and transfer of information, and the management of this, is important particularly in larger organisations.
Developments in processed cheese will trend the same way as in the past, and are unlikely to be radical unless hit by some unforeseen problem, eg food scares, etc.
The trend to reduce additive use in some products will continue, although in certain markets their use will remain. New markets, in developing and emerging countries, will continue to grow, due to the flexibility of processed cheese as a product, and its suitability to hot climates. New retail, snacking and packaging formats are also expected to emerge. Producers will seek more means to build relationships with manufacturing customers by removing costs and reducing handling and complexity in cheese usage. Cheese by its nature is a difficult product for food manufacturers to handle, when compared to powder for example.
Processed cheese type products with similar functionality but different labeling will increase, such as liquid cheese, blended cheese, pasteurised cheese and real cheese. The ability of producers to meet challenges in product development, production and sales in a profitable, efficient and flexible manner decides success or failure.
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