Guest Columns

Perspective:
Cheese Technology

Future growth of Hispanic cheeses, technical solutions to offset defects

Dr. Mali Reddy

Dr. Mali Reddy serves as president of the American Dairy and Food Consulting Laboratories and International Media and Cultures (IMAC Inc.), Denver, Colo. He holds several degrees including M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Iowa State University in food technology and microbiology. He is a guest columnist for this week’s issue of Cheese Market News®.

This article is written to focus on ways to reduce or minimize product defects (soft body) in Hispanic cheeses. Before I get into the subject, I wanted to give the current statistics and future trends in terms of growth of Hispanic cheeses (in comparison to other varieties of cheeses, specifically Italian), by taking into account the past four decades’ growth patterns in the U.S. cheese industry.

The total annual U.S. production of cheese in 2011 was 10.60 billion pounds. If you take quantity of cheese produced by variety, Italian cheeses ranked No. 1, totaling 4.56 billion pounds (43 percent), out of which Mozzarella alone was 3.56 billion pounds (33.6 percent). The total amount of Cheddar produced was 3.14 billion pounds and all other American varieties were another 1.12 billion pounds. The total amount of Hispanic cheeses produced in the United States in 2011 was 222.6 million pounds.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the total amount of Italian-type cheeses produced per year in the United States was approximately 150 to 200 million pounds. It is worthwhile to note the following written statement made by my major professor, the late Dr. George W. Reinbold back in 1963 in the Pfizer Cheese Monograph: “Not too many years ago, mention of such cheeses as Mozzarella, Provolone, Bel Paese, Gorgonzola or the now seemingly ubiquitous pizza would probably have brought blank expressions to the faces of all but the most sophisticated housewives. These were cheeses known almost exclusively to the Italian speaking community.”

A similar trend may be repeated with Hispanic cheeses in the United States. Last year’s total amount of Hispanic cheese production was comparable to what annual Italian cheese production was in the early 1970s. The major explosion in the growth of Italian cheeses took place in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

In light of the past Italian cheese growth trend and the preference of people for foods utilizing Hispanic cheeses, I project the production of Spanish cheeses may get up to 1 billion pounds annually by the year 2022 and more than 2 billion pounds by 2032.

Thus, it is worthwhile to look into various problems the Hispanic cheese industry has been facing or will be facing in terms of public perception and also product defects.

Traditionally in the Latin American countries and Mexico, Spanish- or Mexican-style cheeses were made using raw milk with no cultures.

The first and foremost advancement is to eliminate making such cheeses with raw or inadequately pasteurized milk to minimize pathogen problems. This step has already been implemented. The second advancement should be to use specialty starter cultures as a safety measure to eliminate or discourage the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Today, specialty culture systems are available which can protect the cheeses without lowering the pH and changing the flavor (an excellent technological advancement).

Considering the magnitude and size of U.S. distribution channels, a third advancement must be improved shelf life of the products. Spanish or Mexican cheeses originally were consumed fresh.

Then the industry demanded a 45-day shelf life. It may further increase up to 75 days or more. How can we guarantee such a long shelf life without any product defects? Since these cheeses have high moisture and high pH, and most of them are made without using specialty custom designed starter cultures (although several plants that make Spanish-style cheeses are now using specialty cultures), the following defects have surfaced: soft body; pasty body; excess wheying-off in the packages; pin holes; gassiness; putrid smell; aged cheese flavor; bitter taste; and off color. These defects are frequently encountered causing increased product returns in grocery stores.

In this communication, I would like to discuss ways to eliminate the soft body defect in cheeses such as Queso Blanco, Queso Fresca and Panela. The soft body defect stems from the excess breakdown of protein in the cheese with age. The agents responsible for protein breakdown are: the residual thermo-stable proteolytic enzymes in the pasteurized milk (predominantly of psychrotrophic bacterial origin); the heat treatment of milk (temp and time); the type of starter culture used (if cultures are used in the manufacture); the type and quantity of rennet used; the rate of cooling of cheese right after manufacturing; and the storage temperature and length of storage.

If raw milk is not cooled properly and if the concentrations of psychrotrophic bacteria are high in the raw milk, the resultant pasteurization, although killing the psychrotrophic bacteria, will not inactivate their proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes. These enzymes continue to degrade the cheese, contributing to significant yield loss and also soft body defect with age. Thus, it is highly important to safeguard raw milk with adequate cooling and also use milk silo cultures to activate the lactoperoxidase system, which will retard the growth of psychrotrophic bacteria and also reduce the soft body defect during storage.

Recently, in order to reduce the incidence of Listeria, several Hispanic plants have been pasteurizing the milk at 170 degrees or more. Such high temperatures denature the protein, and the denatured protein gets proteolyzed more due to both bacterial as well as rennet enzymes, leading to a softer body cheese. Because of this high temperature treatment, plants also have been using more rennet to facilitate proper coagulation. Consequently, denaturation of protein and excess usage of rennet will undoubtedly result in a softer body cheese during storage.

The microbial rennets are more proteolytic than the veal or genetically modified rennet. In the case of Spanish cheeses, where the moisture is high, it is a good practice to use less proteolytic coagulating enzymes. In addition, a significant amount of calcium chloride (in accordance with legal limits outlined in the code of federal regulations) should be added to accelerate the coagulation of milk using less enzymes. In other words, reduce the level of coagulating enzymes (and increase the amount of calcium chloride) to decrease the degree of proteolysis during storage.

The cheese must be made using less proteolytic starter cultures to decrease proteolysis and at the same time retain fresh flavor and give adequate protection from pathogens. Also the less proteolytic and less acid-producing specialty starter cultures, which can also reduce the growth and proliferation of protein-breaking adventitious microflora and pathogens, should be selected and used. Such specialty cultures are available in commerce and are being used successfully by several Hispanic cheese producers.

The cheese must be cooled quickly, right after manufacturing as well as during storage, to reduce the proteolysis due to rennet enzyme and due to enzymes produced by adventitious microflora. The storage temperatures must be strictly monitored during shipping as well as in warehouses, grocery stores, and in restaurants. If all the above improvements are judiciously practiced, the soft body defect can be brought under control.

CMN

The views expressed by CMN’s guest columnists are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Cheese Market News®.

© 2025 Cheese Market News • Quarne Publishing, LLC • Legal Information • Online Privacy Policy • Terms and Conditions
Cheese Market News • Business/Advertising Office: P.O. Box 628254 • Middleton, WI 53562 • 608/831-6002
Cheese Market News • Editorial Office: 5315 Wall Street, Suite 100 • Madison, WI 53718 • 608/288-9090