Local air velocity, a key factor governing the Raclette cheese mass loss in an industrial ripening room

Abstract

Raclette cheeses arranged in racks were ripened in an industrial ripening room under temperature, relative humidity, and air circulation control. Cheese mass loss was investigated via two ripening trials and by weighing nine racks located at chosen places in the ripening room. Air velocity (varying from 0.06 to 0.48 m/s as a function of the distance of the textile ventilation ducts that ensure air circulation) had the greatest effect on mass loss (changing from 4.1 to 8.7% of the initial mass). The higher the air velocity was, the greater the cheese mass loss was. The racks at the top of the stacks significantly exhibited the highest mass loss. Linear and exponential relationships between mean cheese mass loss rate and air velocity are proposed. Compared to continuous ventilation, time‐based sequential ventilation led to a mean reduction of mass loss of about 0.75% and confirmed a reduction in energy consumption (about 42%). Practical applications The control of air circulation in industrial cheese ripening rooms is difficult, and considerable heterogeneities in air velocity are often observed. The higher the air velocity is, the greater the cheese mass loss will be, so it is important to know the air velocity distribution inside the ripening room and to obtain and maintain air velocities close to 0.08 m/s, thus favoring homogeneous cheese mass loss. Knowledge of the variations in cheese mass loss as a function of the ripening conditions and of the changes in air velocity must be improved so that cheese‐makers can limit mass loss while maintaining ripened cheese quality, as well as significantly increasing cheesemaking yield. Opting for sequential ventilation (a time or temperature‐based process) at the industrial cheese ripening scale can provide economic benefits by reducing energy consumption and decreasing cheese mass loss.

Review of Energy Efficiency Technologies in the Food Industry: Trends, Barriers, and Opportunities

“…Ventilation could also be optimized with new techniques, such as sequential ventilation. For cheese processing, using this energy efficiency technique is more convenient not only for electricity savings but also because the end-product could have better quality [81], [82].…”

“…Most of the processes are complex and difficult to be changed. Moreover, even in some cases the product quality was improved such as the cheese [81], [82], setting parameters modulation to save energy consumption can negatively influence end product quality. Finally, as previously stated, some food production processes are very rigid due to end quality, and hence it is difficult to accommodate renewable energy and energy saving options.…”

Modeling weight loss of cheese during ripening and the influence of dairy system, parity, stage of lactation, and composition of processed milk

“…Gaucel et al (2012) proposed a generalized model to assess cheese mass loss during ripening of Camembert and Saint-Nectaire cheeses based on the analysis of water activity on the cheese rind and measurements of relative humidity during ripening. Corrieu et al (2018) found that the mass loss in Raclette cheese during ripening was related mainly to local air velocity. However, although the models proposed in the aforementioned studies exhibited goodness of fit and produced useful predictable traits, they cannot be easily applied in the dairy industry, for 2 reasons: (i) the cheese biochemical and physical explanatory variables used to create the predictive models were obtained using time-consuming, high-cost analytical methods; (ii) the predictive models indirectly measured phenomena occurring during the ripening of specific cheeses or specific categories of cheese.…”