Fed up producing cheese with slits or cracks?

Is your company producing open textured cheese with slits or cracks?  Is your cheese similar to the cheeses in the images below?

Many large manufacturers in the US, Canada and Europe experience sporadic cheese-slit problems. However, some experience this problem virtually every day.

Most of these cheeses give normal values for pH, salt and moisture and grade well.  Some of the companies producing this cheese are very large, processing hundreds of thousands of litres of milk per day.

Some companies can largely remove the problem by repackaging the faulty cheese under vacuum. However, there is a significant labour and repackaging cost. Gas flushing is generally not helpful.

While many cheese buyers are somewhat tolerant of the problem they would prefer not to purchase cheese with this fault and there may be a commercial advantage for companies who can produce slit-free cheese.

Do you want to understand what is causing this problem so that you can take the necessary preventive action?

I have the expertise and experience to help. The summary information on gassy cheese and my responses to queries in the forum provides only a partial explanation of gassy and slit cheese problems.

Feel free to contact me and discuss your open texture problem in complete confidence.

Dr Michael Mullan