Cheese is a popular product made from the milk of animals (cows, goats, sheep), produced by fermenting and separating whey, and is a solid or semi-solid mass rich in proteins, calcium, vitamins and amino acids.
Hundreds of varieties of common and local cheeses are popular in many countries around the world, with different sensory characteristics depending on the type of milk, fat content, texture, maturation method and added flavourings such as nuts, spices, herbs or mould. They can be either hard (with holes, Maazdam) or soft (ricotta, mozzarella).
Due to the growing demand for healthy lifestyles and nutrition, soft cheeses with low fat content are often considered the healthiest.
Cheese is made using a cheese starter, a special culture of live lactic acid bacteria (sometimes together with enzymes) that is added to milk to cause it to ferment and turn into curd, providing the characteristic taste, texture and consistency of the fermented milk product. There are dry starter cultures (powder) and liquid cultures (cultures grown in milk) used for home cheese making.
Growing demand for artisanal cheese, increased productivity, clean label trends, phage control and stricter food safety regulations are all contributing to this.
Trends in the modern cheese market:
▸ Growing demand for artisanal cheeses, increasing the use of special cultures of live lactic acid bacteria
▸ Increased adoption of phage-resistant starter cultures worldwide
▸ Increase the use of multifunctional crops that offer biosecurity
▸ Expanding the market for certified clean-label sourdoughs
▸ Freeze-dried crops are gaining popularity due to their longer-term stability
▸ The growing popularity of complementary crops to create regionalised flavours
▸ Growing interest in single crops to ensure consistency
▸ Use of high-performance starter cultures for better economic performance
▸ Modernisation of the cold chain supports wider global distribution of crops
The growing number of bacteriophage outbreaks is prompting cheese producers to use phage-resistant cultures, according to a study by Pristine analysts. This increases the cost of research and development and quality control for culture producers. Consequently, cheese makers are prioritising suppliers with strong phage management programmes.
Reliable logistics that ensure compliance with specific temperature regimes is vital to maintain the viability of the crop during transport, in line with its original condition. Limited cold chain capacity in some regions limits market access and increases the risk of spoilage. Therefore, producers are expanding freeze-dried formats and local production to reduce distribution issues.
Below is a chart of the most popular suppliers of special cultures of live lactic acid bacteria in the world
