CHEESE - PORTIONING

PORTIONING OF CHEESE

The very hard, hard and semi hard cheese varieties are produced in different shapes and sizes and the retail portioning of the cheese is dependent upon factors such as

• Original shape of the cheese
• Consumer size and shape required
• Minimizing wastage i.e. cut offs during the portioning of the cheese.

In general, cheese is portioned into different shapes such as wedge, rectangular or square. Different portioning machines are available in the market which will help the consumers to get the cheese of required size. They are

1. Alpma KSA 90

2. Alpma HT II

3. Wright Pugson Cheese cutting machines

4. Codat 400 and 500 range machines

Equipment for cheese packaging

A multitude of high speed cheese portion packaging machines is available in the market. The important aspects of the packaging machine that should be taken into consideration are

Capital cost

Type of packaging material used

Proposed method of packaging i.e. over wrapping, vacuum, vacuum heat-shrink, and gas flushing

Sanitary standards

Versatility and reliability of the machine

Power and labour requirements

Other specifications such as availability of price labeling, date marking and safety measures.