DIFFUSE-REFLECTANCE CHANGES DURING THE CULTURE OF COTTAGE CHEESE

A sensor for measuring diffuse reflectance of milk during the typical 6-h culture of cottage cheese was installed in a local manufacturing f acility. Diffuse reflectance was found to increase slowly during the f irst three hours of the culture and increase rapidly toward the end of fermentation. The correlation between parameters generated from the d iffuse reflectance profile and cutting time was sufficient to develop an algorithm for cutting time prediction. An algorithm incorporating t (max) (time from adding culture to the maximum rate of change in refle ctance) and slope of the reflectance curve at t(max) predicted the ope rator selected cutting time with a standard error of 8.7 min.