AgriNews, IL
02/23/06
Research center focuses on expanding
cheese consumption
MARTHA BLUM
mblum@agrinews-pubs.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Cheese is one of the key areas for study at the Dairy Foods
Research Center since it results in “a lot of bang for a buck.”
“Cheese is an area we really like to work on because it takes 10 pounds of milk
to make one pound of cheese,” said Lloyd Metzger, director of the MinnesotaSouth Dakota-Iowa Dairy Foods Research Center and assistant professor at the
University of Minnesota.
“A lot of our farmers’ milk goes into the cheese manufacturing process so the
center does quite a bit of work on cheese functionality, and how to make new,
better and different uses for cheese,” added Mary Higgins, director of ingredient
marketing for the Midwest Dairy Association and liaison to the center.
The center was established in 1988 and it is a three-way partnership between
universities, dairy promotion and research organizations and industry
organizations. Dairy Management Inc. provides funding for projects and the
Midwest Dairy Association is a major regional sponsor of the center. In 2006, the
MDA will invest more than $300,000 to sponsor research projects at the center.
The University of Minnesota, South Dakota State University and Iowa State
University are affiliated with the research center.
One of the research projects in progress at the center is evaluating the possibility
that consuming cheese can help lower blood pressure.
“People with high blood pressure have an ACE enzyme that causes their blood
vessels to be constricted, which causes the blood pressure to go up,” Metzger
explained. “So they take ACE inhibitor drugs, but we’ve found through research
that there are peptides in dairy products that will inhibit that enzyme.”
As cheddar cheese goes through the ripening process to become aged cheddar
cheese, the center director explained, “the protein present in cheese is chopped
into small pieces and those fragments are called peptides.”
The research project is focused on determining if the protein hydrolyzed during
the cheese ripening process will function like an ACE inhibitor. “We are using an
animal model to test that,” Metzger said, “where the animal’s only source of
protein in the diet is cheese and then we monitor the blood pressure of the
animals to see if consuming that cheese has an impact.”
It will take from eight to 10 months before the study is completed. “We feed the
animals a controlled diet for a period to get a baseline blood pressure and then
the experimental diet for 28 days,” the researcher said. “We replicate that several
times so that’s why the process takes that long.”
Metzger has also done much work with processed cheese. “We are working on
what controls the characteristics of processed cheese because it is very
important for a manufacturer to make a processed cheese that has the texture
and melt characteristics a consumer wants,” he said.
“Natural cheese is the main ingredient when you make processed cheese and it
is always changing as it ripens and ages,” the researcher explained. “So there is
always a different product to deal with and at the same time the manufactures
are trying to make a final product that is the same every day.”
The center director has developed equipment that makes processed cheese on a
small scale. “I can make a batch as small as 25 grams, which is a couple slices
of cheese,” he said. “The machine measures the characteristics of the cheese
and then we can make adjustments in the formulations to see if there are
changes in the characteristics.”
This helps manufacturers figure out how to formulate a processed cheese that is
consistent from day to day.
To determine which projects are researched at the center, a meeting is held
every summer to evaluate the proposals. “We have a panel that consists of
industry members, members of DMI and the facility,” Metzger explained. “We try
to find a research area that the facility has an expertise in, a project that will
increase the demand for milk and one that meets an industry need such as
helping them develop a new product.”
“We want to make sure we are doing work that is pertinent and useful to the
industry,” Higgins agreed. “So we get their feedback as well as from some of the
farmers.
“I work with all parts of the industry and dairy farmers should be really proud of
their product because it is a superior product that has taste, function and nutrition
all in one package,” Higgins concluded.
For more information about the Minnesota-South Dakota-Iowa Dairy Foods
Research Center, contact the Midwest Dairy Association at (800) 642-3895 or
visit www.midwestdairy.com.