Archival extract

CHEESES
extracted from Rationale Document

Rationale Document for the Eurocode Food Coding System
Institute for Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Berlin, Germany
December 1991

Extract from:

3.1   Milk and milk products

CHEESES

The subgrouping of cheese has seen many changes during the development and refinement of Eurocode 2. The definitions in earlier versions were thought to be ambiguous and not mutually exclusive. The choice of the final (simplified) criteria remains somewhat arbitrary, but provides a useful tool for classification purposes, given that rules for suspected borderline cases are followed. After looking at several alternatives, the most attractive was to classify cheeses as being either hard, soft or fresh.

Hard cheeses can by definition be distinguished from soft cheeses by their ripening process, which proceeds regularly throughout the entire cheese, resulting in a much drier and more solid product.

Fresh cheeses do not have a ripening period and can be consumed immediately after preparation. The fat ranges within the subgroups are not evenly distributed and differ between the groups. This is necessary to adjust for the different variation in fat content for these groups. All percentages are given as fat content in dry matter.

Cheeses not made from cow's milk, such as feta, are also classified as hard, soft or fresh. Separation by animal source was eliminated because a goat's milk cheese with a similar preparation method and fat content is more similar to a cow's milk cheese with similar preparation and fat content than cheeses with different preparation method and fat content are to each other. Furthermore, the individual often can not distinguish the source animal or combinations of milks used.

New imitation cheese products, made by substituting part or all of the milk fat by plant oils or bioengineered fat substitutes are considered cheese and classified in a special section of group 1.8 'Cheese substitutes'.