Well-known process results in stable cheese quality In an internationally competitive situation, it is essential for the Norwegian Dairy Association to keep the quality of its products at the highest level. It is just as important to enjoy technological advantages in a competitive market, in which the price of a product has a decisive effect on its turnover. The Norwegian Dairy Association's Jarlsberg cheese is one of the Norwegian food industry's flagship products. Jarlsberg cheese worth NOK 500 million is exported every year. The characteristic flavour of Jarlsberg cheese is provided by a particular type of bacteria -propionic acid bacteria, which are produced separately and added to the curd.
Production is complicated, takes place in several stages and demands a great deal of resources.
The new production process is a combination of growth and concentration of the bacteria, which produces bacterial concentrations 100 to 200 times as high as using conventional techniques. This gives us a technological advantage. Unlike the old process, bacteria are now produced under stable process conditions. This means that there are minimal differences between production batches, which in turn helps to assure the quality of Jarlsberg cheese production.