Archival extract

Milk and milk products
extracted from Crete workshop report

Report of the FLAIR Eurofoods-Enfant Project meeting
Crete, 29-31 May 1991

Eurocode 2 Workshop

Extract from workshop report

Specific issues

2.  Milk and milk products and sub-division of cheese

The fat content of milk varies with time, season, by country, etc. Therefore, ranges of fat percentages should be used in the future. At present, cheeses are coded according to ambiguous definitions and there also is some overlap. It was proposed that more homogeneous groups and more appropriate fat limits should be developed and that cheeses should be classified as hard, semi-hard, soft, fresh and cottage cheese, or as processed.

Discussion
Since the classification of cheeses always was and will be a problem, it should be decided for all cheeses where they belong in any given classification system. In France, some 400 different cheeses are classified, based on many criteria. To name a few of these criteria: description, preparation method, fat percentage. It turned out that the fat percentage was often very similar. It may be better to base a classification on brand, method of production, etc. The content of water is also an important factor in categorising cheeses. The question was asked whether the classification of cheeses should be based on the percentage water or fat. The solution may be to incorporate this information into a descriptor. Cheese made from soya-bean or from goat or sheep milk should be classified together with soya-bean, goat or sheep respectively. It was also noted that processed cheese can be either hard or soft.