CHEESE AND CULTURED DAIRY 2025
GOAL:
CHEESE AND CULTURED DAIRY: Enhance growth opportunities for cheese and cultured dairy in domestic and export markets
1. Innovation
- · Enable the U.S. to be a preferred cheese supplier by developing the knowledge to produce cheeses that meet export customer specifications consistently.
- Create solutions to uniquely position U.S. cheeses in export markets (differentiation in flavor, texture, functionality, etc., compared to similar cheeses in the export market).
- Solutions (product) to address front of pack labeling regulations in priority markets for US cheese exports
- Provide novel snackable solutions for fermented dairy products and cheese for gut health, physical health, heart health, and cognition
- Develop solutions to deliver high-quality cheese consistently by
- Applying Innovative approaches to improve process eco-efficiency (e.g., yield, efficiencies, water and waste reduction, etc.)
- Technology-enabled decision support systems- for Process and Quality Improvement
- Novel technologies to improve the functionality of cheese and process efficiencies (e.g., separation, enable salt reduction, and enable high protein cheeses)
- Novel solutions for clean label cheese for various applications and markets (e.g., natural cheeses with desired functionality for applications such as grilling, baking, food service etc.).
- Solutions that advance ingredient and process technologies and strategies to improve/tailor texture in high protein fermented dairy products
2. Quality
- Develop alternative approaches to extend the shelf life of cultured and non-cultured products (e.g., non-thermal post-process solutions, in-package solutions).
- Provide bio-preservative solutions (food approved, label-friendly) to assure quality and extend the shelf life of cheese and cultured dairy products.
- Solutions to increase the shelf life of cheese (shreds, cubes, snack portions, blocks) using hurdle concept (combination of both ingredients and processing) to enable clean label.