United States Patent (19) 11 4,341,801 Weissman 45) Jul. 27, 1982

Transcription

1 United State Patent (19) 11 Weiman ) Jul. 27, ) ULTRAFILTRATION PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF CHEESE OTHER PUBLICATIONS Covacevich, Thei-Cornell Univerity (6-7), Univer 7) Inventor: Barry J. Weiman, Norwalk, Conn. ity Microfilm International. Chang, Part. Delact. Whey Ued a NFDM Replace. 73 Aignee: Dorr-Oliver Incorporated, Stamford, in Cheee Proc. Food Offer Eco. Adv.', Food Prod Conn. uct Devel. (11-76). 21 Appl. No.: 842,64 Primary Examiner-Peter Chin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Harold M. Snyder; Burtell J. 22) Filed: Oct. 17, 1977 Kearn 1 int. Cl... A23C 9/12 7) ABSTRACT 2 U.S.C /40, 426/41; An ultrafiltration tep i ued in the production of cream 426/42; 426/491; 426/82; 426/83 cheee to provide a cheee pre-mix which i cultured to 8) Field of Search /40, 41, 82, 83, form cream cheee without generating whey. The raw 426/42, 43, 491 material for thi proce include whole milk, cream and whey protein olid. The whey protein olid are ubti 6) Reference Cited tuted for the kim milk powder formerly ued. Ultrafil U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS tration yield a retentate having the butterfat and non 2,8,91 2/192 Malkame... a fat olid content required for cream cheee manufac 3,60,219 2/1971 Attebery.. 426/41 ture. 3,899,96 8/197 Stenne /40 3,9,039 12/197 Kuiper /41 10 Claim, 2 Drawing Figure 2 WHOLE MK SK K POWDER 4. PASTERZE cheee VAt STAREr culture) 2 HORS RENNE WEG. GUM

2 U.S. Patent Jul. 27, WHOLE MILK SKM MLK POWDER 42 WHOLE MLK WHEY PROTEIN SOLIDS 4. HOMOGENIZE 46 N- - - PASTEURIZE 6 PASTEURIZE 48 WASTE CHEESE VAT 8 (CULTURE) 2 HOURS STARTER RENNET 2 N. PASTEURIZE WHEY STARTER RENNET 4 r : HOMOGENIZE

3 1 ULTRAFILTRATION PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF CHEESE Thi invention i directed to an improved proce for the production of cream cheee. Cheee i a product made from the curd obtained from whole, partly kimmed, or kimmed milk (uually cow' milk), with or without added cream, by coagulat ing the caein with rennet, lactic acid or other uitable enzyme or acid and with or without further treatment of the eparated curd. The curd formed in the cheee making proce i eparated from the whey, which i then eparately utilized or dipoed of. Hitorically, all cheee making procee call for a tep in which the whey i allowed to drain away from the curd and the lat portion of whey may be removed by preing the curd. Nearly one-half of the olid preent in the milk ued in making cheee, largely the lactoe, whey protein and mineral alt in the whey, are dicarded in the cheee making proce. It i true that a certain amount of cheee-like product; e.g., ricotta, made by coagulating the albumin in the whey with heat and acid, are pro duced, but in mot cheee factorie, the dipoal of whey a wate repreent a very real problem. The production of cream cheee differ primarily from the production of other cheee in the high level of butterfat required in the final product. Cream cheee i a oft, unripened, high fat, lactic acid type cheee made from a mixture of homogenized milk and cream. Skim milk powder (or non-fat dry milk olid or dry butter milk olid) i alo added to the mixture. Cream cheee ha a rich milk acid flavor, a mooth buttery texture and a high percentage of fat. The butterfat content of the tarting material i typically in the range from 12% to %, by weight, depending on the proce employed. The curd i precipitated by lactic acid formed by a lactic acid tarter bacteria. Ue of a coagulant uch a rennet i optional. In the commercial proce, whey i drained from the curd by centrifugal eparator. The cream cheee product will have a butterfat content in the range from 33% to 40% by weight. The minimum butterfat content for cream cheee in the United State i et by governmental tandard. When the milk and cream tarting material for cream cheee production have a bufferfat content of from 12% to 14%, by weight, and 7% by weight, of non-fat olid, yield uually run from % to 33%, where the yield i the pound of cheee obtained per pound of tarting materi al expreed a a percent. It ha been hown that by providing an ultrafiltration tep at an appropriate point in the proce for making cream cheee, exce liquid, including certain non-fat olid, can be removed from the milk prior to the coagul lation (culturing) tep. Such an ultrafiltration tep i highly controllable and lend itelf to continuou pro ceing. The concentrated ultrafiltered product, or re tentate, i ready for treatment with lactic acid tarter or rennet to produce the deired curd, but without coinci dent production of whey. The function of the ultrafiltration tep i to increae the concentration of butterfat and non-fat olid to the level required for cream cheee production. Thi ha been done, in the pat, by tarting with whole milk and eparating the whole milk into kim milk and cream fraction. The kim milk i then ultrafiltered to increae the non-fat olid content of the retentate, followed by O 1 SO 6 2 mixing the retentate with ufficient cream and kim milk powder to form a pre-cheee mix having the proper butterfat and non-fat olid content. From thi pre cheee mix, a cream cheee cloely approaching com mercial quality ha been made. An alternate proce for making cream cheee uing ultrafiltration involve the tep of blending whole milk, kim milk powder and cream and ubjecting thi blend to ultrafiltration. The retentate of the ultrafiltration proce, which i the pre-cheee mix for the cheee making proce, i then homogenized and cultured and addition of alt and vegetable gum may be added thereto a in the conventional proce prior to packag ing. Either before or after ultrafiltration, the whole milk-cream blend, in the firt cae, or the retentate, in the econd cae, i pateurized. A further homogeniza tion tep may be employed following culturing in ome cae. Skim milk powder, in amount up to 10% by weight of the whole milk, may be ued in the milk/- cream blend. Buttermilk powder or non-fat dry milk olid may be ubtituted for the kim milk powder. The preent invention i an improvement of the pro ce in which ultrafiltration i applied to the production of cream cheee. It i an object of thi invention to provide an im proved proce for making cream cheee with reduced raw material cot in which an ultrafiltration tep i utilized. Other object and advantage of thi invention will become apparent from the following decription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which: FIG. 1 i a flow diagram of the conventional cream cheee making proce and FIG. 2 i a flow diagram of the preferred cheee making proce of the preent invention. One proce for making cream cheee in accordance with the preent invention call for the production of an ultrafiltered pre-cheee mix from a feed compriing whole milk, cream, and whey protein olid, the latter in an amount up to 10% by weight of the whole milk. The whey protein olid thu replace the milk olid, dry buttermilk olid or non-fat dry milk olid ordinarily added to the milk/cream blend. The whey protein may be provided a recontituted whey protein powder or a a concentrate obtained from an ultrafilter proceing normal plant whey. In another proce of the invention, whole milk i eparated into kim milk and cream, the kim milk i ultrafiltered to concentrate the non-fat olid, the con centrate, cream and whey protein olid are then blended to form a pre-cheee mix having predetermined butterfat and non-fat dry olid content and thi pre cheee mix i then cultured, additive uch a alt and vegetable gum are introduced into the mix and the product i then ready for packaging. Whey protein olid are produced by the ultrafiltra tion of whey. In the ultrafiltration proce, the whey protein olid are retained by the ultrafiltration mem brane forming a concentrate, wherea the lactoe and mineral alt of the whey pa through the membrane. The lactoe and mineral alt permeate i then wated, the volume of the permeate being omewhat le than the original whey feed tream. The whey protein olid do not participate in the enzymatic reaction initiated by the addition of tarter material in the cheee-making proce; i.e., they do not form curd a do the milk and cream contituent of the

4 3 blend. Becaue at thi point in the proce there i little or no liquid preent to erve a a vehicle for the whey protein olid, they are trapped in the coagulant. The whey protein olid adhere to the curd formed during coagulation and o add their bulk to the cheee curd. Thu, whey protein olid, formerly a wate material, i made to provide the required level of non-fat olid in the cream cheee. The ue of whey protein in the feed blend provide two ignificant advantage: (1) it provide low cot non-fat olid (particularly when the whey olid are produced in an ultrafilter treating plant whey) nece ary to the production of cream cheee and (2) it intro duce a ueful application of cheee whey, the dipo ition of which i a ignificant environmental problem of national proportion. In the conventional cream cheee making proce illutrated in the flow diagram of FIG. 1, whole milk, cream and kim milk powder are mixed in a blending tage 12. The blend then flow to a homogenization tage 14 in which the fat globule are reduced in ize and evenly ditributed throughout the blend. Following homogenization the homogenized blend flow to a pa teurization tage 16. The pateurization tep may be conveniently conducted in the temperature range from about 160' F. to about 16 F. for a period from about 14 econd to 16 econd. Following pateurization the pateurized blend i removed to a cheee vat 18 and a lactic acid tarter, for example, treptococcu cremori to treptococcu lacti, i added for culturing. Rennet may alo be added, if deired. The curd remain in the cheee vat 18 for about 12 hour at a temperature of about 8 F. Following culturing the curd i mixed to promote unifornity of the product. Separation tage 24 follow and in thi tage the whey i eparated from the curd. The eparation may be carried out by placing the curd on cloth which allow the whey to drain away. Alternatively, the curd can be poured into mulin bag which are then placed on draining rack. If it i deired to haten draining, preure may be applied near the end of the draining period. In another method, the hot curd i paed through a pecial centrifugal machine which mechanically remove the whey. The cheee i then forwarded to a econd homogenization tage 26 to form a uniform product and then the cheee i mixed with alt and vegetable gum for tabilization in tage 28 before it i forwarded to the packaging tage 32. A cream cheee making proce utilizing ultrafiltra tion and incorporating the preent invention i illu trated in the flow diagram of FIG. 2. In thi proce, whole milk, whey protein olid, and cream are mixed in tage 42. At thi point the blended whole milk and cream mixture i routed to the pateurizing tep 46. The pateurizing tage 46 prior to the ultrafiltration tage 48 i optional at thi point in the proce and the operator may elect to carry out thi procedure in a pateurizing tep 2 following the ultrafiltration tage 48. In any cae, the blended mixture, pateurized or unpateurized, i routed to the ultrafiltration tage 48 and the ultrafil tration proce i conducted on a flow tream which i at a temperature of about 1 F. The product of the ultrafiltration tage i a retentate, much enriched in butterfat content and in non-fat olid content, and a permeate which contain eentially no butterfat and a reduced non-fat olid content. Following ultrafiltration, the retentate i forwarded to the pateurization tage 2 (if it ha not been carried out previouly) and then to a homogenization tage Homogenization i followed by a culturing tage 4 where lactic acid tarter i added and rennet alo, if deired, into the cheee vat. A temperature of about 8 F. i maintained in the cheee vat for a period of about 8 hour. When the culturing tep ha been completed, the cream cheee may optionally be treated in a further homogenization tage 6, but, in any cae, the cheee i directed to a mixing tage 8 in which alt and vegetable gum are added, and then to the packaging tage 62. The optional homogenization tage 6 may alternatively be conducted following the mixing tage 8 to aure that the final product i quite uniform. An ultrafiltration ytem uitable for the purpoe of thi invention include ultrafiltration cartridge which conit of a number of membrane-coated panel ar ranged in paced relation to form feed channel through the cartridge. Each of the membrane-coated panel i compoed of a porou core material while the ultrafil tration membrane i compoed of a uitable polymer. A portion of the liquid and other contituent below a predetermined ize pa through the membrane, into the porou core material from which they may be removed a permeate. The liquid remaining in the channel thu become more concentrated with repect to contitu ent above the predetermined ize range before leaving the ultrafiltration tage. The membrane applied in the ultrafiltration cell may be of a celloic type or the aniotropic, microporou, polymeric, high flux, low preure membrane of the type dicloed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,61,024, iued Oct. 26, 1971 to A. S. Michael. The membrane may be com poed in accordance with the above patent of polymer uch a polycarbonate, polyvinylchloride, polyam ide, acrylic rein, polytyrene, tyreneacrylonitrile, polyulfone, acetal polymer and variou copolymer. The average pore ize of uch a membrane may advan tageouly be in the range from A. to 100 A., and certain atifactory working membrane have a nominal average pore ize range of A to 0 A. The formulation of polymeric material which will function in a atifactory manner a ultrafiltration mem brane are well known. For example, coating of acrylic and epoxy rein may be formed. Such polymeric mate rial are dicloed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,366,63, iued Jan., 1968, U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,983 iued Feb., 1968, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,088, iued Sept. 24, Suit able material for the membrane core include rein impregnated paper or cardboard, rein bonded granular olid, open foamed platic, gla or platic fiber mat and intered platic. The following example are offered to illutrate the advantage of the invention. In thee example it will be undertood that the percentage of the contituent given refer to percent by weight. EXAMPLE I A feed mix i prepared coniting of milk (3.9% but terfat), cream (40% butterfat) and whey protein con centrate (dry-% protein). The weight ratio of milk to cream i Sufficient whey powder i added o a to comprie 2.% of the feed mix. The mix compoi tlon 1: 29.% Total olid.6% Butterfat 3.2% Protein

5 6 -continued idered to be within the purview and cope of the inven 8.9% Non-fat olid tion and appended claim. I claim: 1. In a proce for making cream cheee from raw The feed mix i concentrated by ultrafiltration to obtain material compriing milk and cream wherein at leat a a pre-cheee mix compoition of approximately 37.0% butterfat. Starter i then added to the pre-cheee mix in proportion to % of the original feed mix. The mix i allowed to et (culturing) for from 8 to 10 hour at a temperature of 8 F. Salt and gum are added to the coagulum in proportion to 0.7% of the original feed mix to yield a final cream cheee compoition of 33.% butterfat and 12.0% non-fat olid. EXAMPLE II A feed mix i prepared coniting of milk (3.9% but terfat), cream (40% butterfat) and whey concentrate (8.4% total olid). The whey concentrate i obtained by ultrafiltration of plant whey at about a five-fold concentration ratio. The weight ratio of milk to cream in the feed mix i The whey concentrate i added in an amount ufficient to comprie 23.% of the feed mix. The mix compoition i: 23.1% Total olid 16.1% Butterfat 2.% Protein 7.0% Non-fat olid The feed mix i concentrated by ultrafiltration to obtain a pre-cheee mix compoition of about 37% butterfat. Starter i added to the concentrate in proportion to 3.9% of the original feed mix. The mix i allowed to et for from 8 to 10 hour at 8 F. Salt and gum are added to the coagulum in proportion to 1% of the original feed mix to yield a final cream cheee compoition of 33.2% butterfat and 11.8% non-fat olid. Although the preent invention ha been decribed in conjunction with preferred embodiment, it i to be undertood that modification and variation may be reorted to without departing from the pirit and cope of the invention, a thoe killed in the art will readily undertand. Such modification and variation are con 10 portion of the raw material are ubjected to ultrafiltra tion and the rententate thereof i employed in a pre cheee mix which i ubequently cultured and tabi lized, the improvement compriing, introducing into the pre-cheee mix prior to ultrafiltration an addition of whey protein olid. 2. In a proce for making cream cheee from a feed including whole milk and cream, wherein at leat a portion of aid feed i an ultrafiltered retentate, to pro duce a pre-cheee mix having predetermined butterfat and non-fat olid content, wherein aid pre-cheee mix i cultured to produce a coagulum, and the coagulum mixed with tabilizer and alt prior to packaging, the improvement compriing adding whey protein olid to the material undergoing treatment prior to the culturing tep. 3. The proce of claim 2 wherein aid whey protein olid are added to a blend of whole milk and cream and the blend thu formed i ubjected to ultrafiltration. 4. The proce of claim 3 wherein aid whey protein olid are added in an amount up to 10%, by weight, of aid whole milk.. The proce of claim 4 wherein aid whey protein olid are added in powder form. 6. The proce of claim 4 wherein aid whey protein olid are added a a concentrate. 7. The proce of claim 2 wherein the whole milk i eparated into kim milk and cream fraction and the kim milk fraction i ubjected to ultrafiltration, the ultrafiltered retentate then being mixed with cream and whey protein olid to form aid pre-cheee mix. 8. The proce of claim 7 wherein aid whey protein olid are added in an amount up to 10%, by weight, of aid whole milk. 9. The proce of claim 8 wherein aid whey protein olid are added in powder form. 10. The proce of claim 8 wherein aid whey protein olid are added a a concentrate. k k k 0 6