Chr. Hansen introduces 2nd generation direct-to-the-vat cheese culture concept in Europe

The Easy-Set® concept designed for major cheese manufacturers is a convenient and cost attractive starter culture system which eliminates the need for large cheese plants to produce bulk starter.

For a number of years Chr. Hansen has offered its Easy-Set® concept to North American manufacturers of Cheddar and Pasta Filata cheese types. Unlike Chr. Hansen’s Direct Vat Set concept (DVS®) which is designed for small and medium-sized dairies, Easy-Set® is designed for large cheese plants with an annual production above 15.000 tons.

Now Chr. Hansen exports the Easy-Set® concept to the European cheese industry.

Easy-Set for European Continental cheese

“We're introducing our "C300" Easy-Set® series to large European market for Continental cheese. To begin with we’re focusing on the Edam/Gouda/Manchego sub-segment of Continental cheese and geographically we’re concentrating on Eastern Europe, Spain and France,” says Chr. Hansen’s Soeren Herskind, Marketing Director, Cheese Cultures.

“Easy-Set® is large-scale DVS® designed specifically for major cheese manufacturers,” Soeren Herskind continues. “Easy-Set® was developed in working partnerships with major international cheese plants, the global frontrunners, and the concept has taken the North American cheese industry by storm since it was launched in the year 2000. In nine years Chr. Hansen has converted one third of the North American Cheddar and Pasta Filata dairies from bulk starter to Easy-Set®.”

The general trend across the global cheese industry is to convert from traditional bulk starter to production methods with direct inoculation in milk. More than 2% of all cheese production - or 300.000 tons of cheese - is converted to direct-vat-set production every year.

35 years of direct-to-the-vat expertise

“DVS® has done the direct-to-the-vat job for more than 35 successful years by now,” says Soeren Herskind. “30% of the world’s cheese is made using the DVS® technology and the concept is continuously being developed to embrace efficient production and to address new trends. The DVS® cheese culture product range includes more than 450 different products and on top of that comes customized cultures. The code to success is consistency, convenience, control, and cost savings for the dairy.”

The direct-to-the-vat dairy cultures are highly concentrated and standardized frozen and freeze dried cultures used for direct inoculation of the cheese milk. The cultures need no activation or other treatment prior to use and offer a number of advantages in terms of flexibility of use, consistent performance, possibility of using customized culture blends, and no investment in bulk starter equipment.

Challenging cheese segment

Continental cheese makes up approx. 25% of the 15m tons global cheese production and approx. 40% of European cheese production. The Edam/Gouda/Manchego sub-segment makes up two thirds of the Continental segment.

“Producing Continental cheese is more challenging and demanding than producing Cheddar and Pasta Filata cheese types,” Soeren Herskind explains. “The starter culture for Continental cheese has to cope with higher moisture content of the cheeses, and requirements for specific flavor, texture and eye formation.”

More than 65% of the total world cheese production is Cheddar, Pasta Filata or Continental cheeses.