Patent ID: 7687095

Claim:
A method for producing a low fat, high moisture cream cheese product comprising: (a) reducing the pH of a whey protein source to less than about 4.0 to provide an acidified whey protein; (b) heating said acidified whey protein source in a first heating step to to form an acidified whey protein aggregate; (c) blending said acidified whey protein aggregate with a fat source to provide a cream cheese blend; (d) homogenizing the cream cheese blend in a first homogenization step; and (e) raising the pH at any time after step (b) to provide a cream cheese-like product having a pH of about 4.5 to about 5.1, a moisture content of at least about 69 percent, a fat content less than about 10 percent, and a casein content to whey content ratio of about 40:60 to about 0:100, respectively.