Mozzarella is the product of a well-established technology in the making of fresh pasta filata cheese, and is part of the Italian dairy tradition. In its most traditional form the form in question in this product specification mozzarella must be made with whole milk which is raw when it arrives at the plant and adjusted, if necessary, only for the fat content; the decisive factor is the natural starter, which must be prepared with milk coming from the same area as that used at the cheese production plant and must be used on the spot. This is a culture of lactic bacteria characterised by resistance to heat, rapid growth and acidification. It is obtained through the selective enrichment of the lactic microflora naturally present in raw milk, and retains the initial microbiological quality of the milk. A properly prepared natural starter is usually made up of an undefined mixture of strains of Streptococcus thermophilus, which may be accompanied by enterococci and heat-resistant lactic bacteria. This group of lactic flora helps in determining the final

characteristics of the product.

Product description:

Traditional-type mozzarella is a soft pasta filata cheese (as defined by the Codex Alimentarius), with lactic fermentation. It can have a spheroid shape (weighing from 20 to 250 g), sometimes with a ªheadº, or it can be plaited (weighing from 125 to 250 g).

Traditional-type mozzarella is packaged and sold in a protective covering and in contact with a packing medium, made up of water and sometimes salt, which is in direct contact with the product if the covering is hermetically sealed and in contact by diffusion if it is perforated or permeable.

Organoleptic characteristics

Appearance:

- No rind, but with a soft skin

- Smooth, shiny, even surface, milk-white colour

- Typically fibrous consistency, more pronounced initially, layered and releasing a milky liquid when cut or squeezed lightly. It may then have pockets in which this liquid collects

- Absence of eyes

- Even, milk-white colour, with no spots or veins.

Consistency: soft and slightly elastic.

Taste: distinctive, savoury, fresh, delicately acidulous.

Aroma: distinctive, fragrant, delicate, of lightly acidulous milk.

Chemical characteristics

- Dry matter fat content: minimum 44% (m/m)

- Moisture: for the spheroidal shape, 58 to 66% (m/m); for the plaited shape, 56 to 62% (m/m)

- Moisture of the non-fat portion: 69 to 80% (m/m)

- Phosphatasic activity not greater than 12 lg of phenol per gram of cheese

- pH: 5,1 to 5,6

- L(+) lactic acid: greater than 0,2% (m/m) in samples analysed within three days after the production date

- Sodium chloride (NaCl) not greater than 1% (m/m)

- Furosine: maximum 10 mg to 100 g of protein.

Microbiological characteristics

Typical microflora resistant to curd stretching, in an amount of not less than 107 cfu/g in samples analysed within three days after the date of production.

Preservation

The product should be stored at a temperature between 0 and +4 ¾C. The maximum storage temperature must be given on the label along with the expiration date, which is indicated by the words ªUse by. . .º followed by the day and month.

Specific production or manufacturing method:

includes exclusively the following stages, to be carried out in a continuous cycle in the same plant:

- pre-ripening, if necessary, of the milk with a lactic starter

- pasteurisation of the milk at a minimum temperature of 71,7 ¾C for 15 seconds or equivalent process,

- inoculation of the milk with natural starter,

- addition of liquid bovine rennet, with between 20 and 30% pepsin activity,

- rennet coagulation at 35 to 39 ¾C,

- cutting, breaking and separation of whey from the curd,

- lactic ripening of the curd up to a pH of 5,0 to 5,4,

- cutting of the ripened curd into pieces,

- curd stretching (operation of heating the curd with hot water, sometimes with salt added, with a final temperature of the curd between 58 and 65 ¾C),

- hot moulding of the curd,

- hardening in cold water, sometimes with salt added,

- packaging.

Preparation of natural starter

Initial starter

- Heating of raw milk which has not been refrigerated, at a temperature of at least +63 ¾C for a minimum period of 15 minutes (or time/temprature combinations of equivalent minimum effect)

- Cooling to incubation temperature (t=42 to 50 ¾C)

- Incubation up to an acidity of 14 to 24 ¾SH for 100 ml

- Cooling to a temperature lower than +8 ¾C

- Refrigerated storage at a temperature no greater than +4 ¾C.

Subsequent starters

- Inoculation of raw milk, which may also be refrigerated, with a minimum of 4 % of the first starter

- Heat treatment as for the first starter

- Cooling to incubation temperature (t=42 to 50 ¾C)

- Incubation up to an acidity of 14 to 24 ¾SH for 100 ml

- Cooling to a temperature lower than +8 ¾C

- Refrigerated storage at a temperature no greater than +4 ¾C.

Starter ready for use

Starter ready for use must:

- have an acidity between 16 and 30 ¾SH for 100 ml,

- have a minimum thermophilic streptococci content of 108 cfu (*)/ml,

- have negative phosphatasic activity,