To make cheese milk is processed into curds and whey. When the whey is removed a small percentage of the curd is lost as fine particles. In addition to reducing the amount of cheese available for sale these fine particles are costly to dispose of and contribute to pollution and environmental damage. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a method for recovering fine particles of curd and reincorporating them into a batch of cheese. A vibrating sieve is used to collect the fine particles from the whey and the wash water during the whey removal process. The particles are mixed into a subsequent lot of milk and reincorporated into the matrix of the resulting cheese curd. Technology Applications: Cheese making
1) Increases cheese yield 2) Economical -- estimated to save $100 to $150 from the processing of a 40000 pound batch of milk 3) May reduce disposal cost of whey 4) Environmentally friendly -- reduces waste 5) Versatile -- can be used to make both acid-based and rennet-based cheeses