DIRECT VAT INOCULATION OF MILK WITH FREEZE-DRIED STARTERS FOR MAKING CHEDDAR CHEESE

The introduction of cheese starter developed by Vitex, Paris, France, in concentrated, freeze-dried form for direct inoculation of milk in the cheesemaking vat offers considerable advantages and the performance of some ICF starters (Inoculum pour Cuve de Fabrication) for making Cheddar is reported. Conditions regarding level of inocula and processing temperatures to establish satisfactory curd making in an acceptable making time are described and numbers of starter bacteria in the milk and in the curd at pressing and the pattern of acidity development during processing are shown to be very similar to those in standard control Cheddar cheesemaking with liquid starter cultures. No apparent lag-phase was observed in the production of acidity by these freeze-dried starters. Chemical analysis and official grading of the cheeses showed them to be of good quality.