MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE

Abstract

The present invention relates to the manufacture of cheese, especially cottage cheese, by fermenting milk with lactic acid bacteria.

Claims

1-20. (canceled)

21. A method for manufacture of cottage cheese, which comprises the following steps: a) inoculating a milk substrate with lactic acid bacteria belonging to a strain which is able to produce a capsular polysaccharide; b) fermenting the milk with the bacteria; and c) separating the cheese mass or curd from the whey.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the strain is a strain of a Lactococcus species.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the strain is a strain of a Streptococcus species.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the strain is urease negative (Ur).

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the strain is selected from the group consisting of strains that were deposited with the Leibniz Institute DSMZGerman Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures under accession numbers: DSM24650, DSM24648, DSM24649, DSM24655, DSM24654, DSM21421, DSM 25012, and mutants and variants of any of these.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the milk substrate is inoculated with 10.sup.4 to 10.sup.13 cfu/ml (cell forming units per milliliter), or more preferably inoculated with 10.sup.8 to 10.sup.12 cfu/ml, of the bacteria.

27. The method of claim 21, which comprises a further step of adding a coagulant (such as rennet, rennin, a protease, and/or chymosin) before, during or after step a).

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the fermentation time in step (b) is from 3 to 10 hours.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the milk substrate is milk, such as cow's milk.

30. The method of any of claim 21, wherein the step (c) includes one or more of the steps selected from the group consisting of: i) cutting the coagulum at a pH between 4.6 and 4.7; and ii) scalding (heating) of the curd after cutting.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein the resulting cheese curd is salted, pressed and packaged.

32. Cottage cheese, obtained by a method of claim 21.

33. The method of claim 21, wherein the strain belongs to the species Streptococcus thermophilus or Lactococcus lactis.

34. A lactic acid bacterial strain selected from the group consisting of strains that were deposited with the Leibniz Institute DSMZGerman Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures under accession numbers: DSM24650, DSM24648, DSM24649, DSM24655, DSM24654, DSM 25012, and mutants derived from any of these strains, wherein said mutants have substantially the same, or improved, properties regarding cheese yield as the mother strain when used for the manufacture of cottage cheese.

35. The lactic acid bacterial strain of claim 34, wherein less than 1% (such as less than 0.1%) of the nucleotides in the bacterial genome of said mutants have been shifted with another nucleotide, or deleted, compared to the mother strain.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0111] The figures depict the impact of the novel strains on curd quality.

[0112] FIG. 1: Cottage cheese curd with extra yield manufactured with novel strain (DSM24649)

[0113] FIG. 2: Cottage cheese curdmanufactured with reference culture (DSM21404)

DEPOSITS AND EXPERT SOLUTION

[0114] The following strains were deposited at the Leibniz institute DSMZGerman Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (formerly known as DSMZDeutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH), Inhoffenstr, 7B, D-38124 Braunschweig (DSM) on the mentioned dates, and given the mentioned accession numbers:

[0115] Novel Strains:

[0116] CHCC10812: Mar. 15, 2011, DSM24650

[0117] CHCC6086: Mar. 15, 2011, DSM24648

[0118] CHCC2618: Mar. 15, 2011, DSM24649

[0119] CHCC14308: Mar. 15, 2011, DSM24655

[0120] CHCC12828: Mar. 15, 2011, DSM24654

[0121] CHCC2907: Apr. 23, 2008, DSM21421

[0122] CHCC12942: Jul. 12, 2011, DSM 25012

[0123] Reference Strains:

[0124] CHCC12406: Mar. 15, 2011, DSM24653

[0125] CHCC1915: Apr. 23, 2008, DSM21404

[0126] The deposits were made according to the Budapest treaty on the international recognition of the deposit of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedure.

[0127] The Applicant requests that a sample of the deposited microorganisms should be made available only to an expert approved by the Applicant.

REFERENCES

[0128] U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,737

[0129] U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,721B1 (Texal, F R)

[0130] U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,836 (published 1967)

[0131] WO91/00690A1

[0132] Gold Spot Dairy boost cottage cheese sales, Dairy and Ice Cream Field, vol. 156, no. 6, 1973, pages 46-47.

[0133] R. Scott, (1986), Cheesemaking process, second ed., Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, London and New York.

[0134] G. Bylund, (1995), Dairy processing handbook, Tetra Pak Processing Systems, Lund, Sweden

[0135] F. Kosikowski, (1982), Cheese and fermented milk foods, second ed., Kosikowski & Associates, New York

[0136] All references cited in this patent document are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.