Scientists have developed a high-tech method of testing cheese. 

Making cheese leaves a lot to chance, as a batch could be ripened for months or even years before a problem is discovered.

In many cases, what should be a prized batch of cheddar has to be sold off as a cheap ingredient for processed cheese.

Cheese is very complex and expensive to make – a factory could invest lots of time and money into what they think will be a top-graded batch, only to discover it has failed and is too late to fix.

But new research from RMIT University allows quality to be checked much earlier and more precisely in the process, giving manufacturers a better chance to react to issues with the ripening process.

A research team has devised a method to expose cheese’s biomarkers – or fingerprints – to show unique combinations of things like chemicals and milk-derived components that make up the perfect block.

“Once we know the chemical profile of a successful cheese, we can compare it to new batches as soon as 30 days into the ageing process,” research leader Dr Roya Afshari says.

“It’s like a pregnancy screening test for cheese – we analyse the biological data early in the development to see if there are any red flags.

“This could be done alongside traditional analyses like tasting to highlight future potential problems.”

The team looked at different commercial cheddar cheeses in Australia and applied ‘multi-omics’ – a kind of biological analysis typically used in human medicine to detect diseases.

Researchers studied the biological make up of different brands and grades of cheese and worked with data experts to interpret and compare the results for known batches.

“Once we knew the unique properties of a finished cheese, we compared them to ripening batches and worked out which compounds distinguished the best cheeses,” Dr Afshari said.

With larger datasets, it will be possible for these techniques to let manufacturers know if their batch will age properly, because they can check to see if the key compounds have developed early in the ripening process or just as importantly that the bad ones have not. 

It is like having a crystal ball for cheese.

Additionally,, the practice of grading a cheese’s quality and maturity will no longer need to be left to subjective human senses.

Dr Afshari said incorporating multi-omics analysis into testing cheese gives professional cheese graders more tools to accurately assess for quality.

“Cheese chemical fingerprints can be compared against those found in the perfect product, along with traditional grading methods,” she said. 

“Now we can identify different types and grades of cheese more accurately than a taste test.”

The researchers have published three studies demonstrating how interpreting the biological profile of cheese can aid manufacturing and grading.

In separate studies, they used multi-omics analyses to differentiate cheddar cheeses based on their age and brand, compare cheese of varying quality and group artisanal and industrial cheddar cheeses based on type and brand.