ABSTRACT
The production of cheese is a process of concentrating milk by the interaction of the milk, starter cultures, and, in most cases, rennet. Traditionally, cheese has been produced in small vats, but during the past 3 to 4 decades, processing has become increasingly industrialized. Before industrialization, little attention was directed toward the hygienic aspects of cheesemaking, partly because the batch sizes were small and partly because methods of analysis were not well developed; consumption of cheese would normally cause only a few of disease cases. In recent years, more attention is being given to the hygienic aspects for several reasons: methods for detecting pathogens have improved; more focus on emerging pathogens such as Listeria and E. coli H7:O157; and the larger batch sizes increase risk to larger numbers of consumers, if pathogens are present. Furthermore, because of the large batches, economic losses will be substantial if the quality is not acceptable. Finally, an unacceptable quality in just a few batches from a producer may lead to loss of market shares. All these reasons have led to a considerable increase in attention on the hygienic aspects of cheesemaking. These aspects include a range of factors such as hygiene, environmental and technological factors, interactions between microorganisms, and the setting up of control systems in order to prevent contamination or at least to inhibit the growth of pathogens.
