How Near Infrared Spectrometry Can Help Maintain Cheese Quality

Cheesemaking is an art, there’s no doubt about that. Today, thanks to Near Infrared spectrometry (NIRS) technology and handheld devices like the revolutionary SCIO Mini, a NIR analyzer, it can be a science as well. That means that cheese quality can be consistent, and results predictable. 

Cheese testing used to be part of the final stages of the cheesemaking process, with ultimate results importantly determined by tasting the end product. Since traditional cheese testing methods were by nature destructive, disrupting the cheesemaking process, there was a limit to how intensively cheesemakers were willing to analyze the evolving makeup of their cheeses, making it difficult to adjust for perfection mid-batch.

The innovation of the SCIO Mini, a handheld device incorporating NIR technology, has changed that equation. Now, cheesemakers can test each and every part of the process to measure fat, protein, and moisture content via a simple, instant, and non-invasive scan. This opens up new possibilities for ensuring consistent high-quality cheese, as well as for tracking the progress of experimental cheeses. 

The technology within the SCIO Mini, the SCIO Cheese Analyzer, can be used on a wide range of cheeses, from curd to hard, semi-hard, soft, and fresh cheeses. It can also be employed at any stage so that results can be analyzed to determine how different combinations and component variables impact the way a cheese matures. 

The Stages of Cheesemaking

Each stage of cheesemaking requires some form of measurement. Some factors, such as time, temperature, and pH levels, have well-established methods that can be used by a cheese tester or incorporated easily into the manufacturing process. 

However, until the SCIO Mini’s instant NIR moisture analyzer became available, other factors such as moisture, fa,t and protein were far more elusive. That used to be problematic, because they’re relevant to more stages than is sometimes appreciated, as illustrated by this table of an example process:

Stage	Purpose	Needs measurement
Standardize milk	The aim is to optimize the protein-to-fat ratio, to ensure quality is consistent as desired	Protein and fat levels and ratio
Pasteurize/heat milk	Avoid spoilage, increase hygiene, safety, and environment	Time, temperature
Cool milk	Provide an ideal environment for the starter bacteria	Time, temperature
Inoculate with starter bacteria and ripen	Fermentation begins, lowering pH and developing flavor	pH, temperature
Cut curd and heat	Curd ferments, and is then cut and heated in order to separate the whey from the curd	Moisture, pH, time, temperature
Drain whey	Moving towards the more finished product, the whey is drained, and the curd becomes a mat	Moisture
Texture curd	As the curd mats are flipped and milled, they gain texture	Moisture, pH
Dry salt or brine	Adding salt to the process via dry salt or a brine solution gets the cheese to the stage of being nearly ready to store and mature	Moisture, fat
Store and age	As it ages and matures, the cheese gains flavor and complexity	Moisture, fat

As you can see from this table, there are so many parts of the cheesemaking process in which it’s vital to be able to measure levels of moisture, fat, and protein accurately. With the SCIO Mini, that’s a breeze. Without it, it used to be very challenging.

Challenges Cheese Makers Face Without SCIO Mini

Having to manage the cheesemaking process without real-time information about the moisture, protein, and fat content of the batches in progress is extremely challenging. It can lead to waste and inefficiency through absolutely no fault of the cheesemakers, but simply because they do not have the data they need. 

Some of the main pain points of this enforced lack of information include:

• Waste If you can’t check on the batch as it matures and correct it as needed, you sometimes end up with a batch you can’t use, or that doesn’t meet the specifications.
• Inefficiency and lack of sustainability. Ingredients, energy, and other resources are wasted on trial and error.
• Delay. When you can’t test in real-time throughout the process, delays inevitably result, causing frustration and a knock-on effect.

Lack of consistency. If you can’t keep the constituent elements consistent, the final results won’t be either.

How SCIO Supports the Cheesemaking Process

The NIRS technology of the SCIO Mini is revolutionary within two distinct use cases of cheesemaking. The first is in the context of ongoing batches, which can be adapted “on the fly” according to the levels that are detected. The second is more long-term, with cheesemakers able to plan ahead with greater accuracy and consistency. 

Using handheld NIR spectrometry for curd testing or cheese testing, a cheese tester can determine the protein, moisture, or fat content of a batch within seconds. That means that a cheesemaking process can be adapted at any point to ensure the cheese quality and composition that’s desired.

Moreover, a NIR moisture analyzer, or analysis of fat or protein, is so fast that it can be performed multiple times on a single batch, for instance testing many spots in a wheel, for far greater accuracy. 

• The SCIO Cheese Analyzer can be used on hard, semi-hard, soft, and fresh cheeses
• Supported moisture range: 30%-85%
• Supported fat range: 5%-40%

The incorporation of NIR spectrometry into devices that sync automatically to the cloud and are designed with actionable data in mind also changes the horizons of the wider cheesemaking picture. Experiments and trends can be tracked over months or years, and learning applied to future batches. 

For instance, if you have curd testing results stretching back over multiple batches over the course of a year, you can filter the different components that correlate to specific results, and either avoid or encourage specific qualities in your cheese. 

Using the NIRS technology embedded in the SCIO Mini, cheesemakers can ensure that they have insight and control into the batches that they have on the go at the moment, and also make sure that those batches become part of a broader understanding that contributes to ensuring reliable, high-quality cheese every time. By bringing science to the art, the craft of cheesemaking can become more efficient, more predictable, and more consistently successful.