[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 21, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 21CFR133.188]
[Page 361-362]
TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS
CHAPTER I--FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES (CONTINUED)
PART 133 CHEESES AND RELATED CHEESE PRODUCTS--Table of Contents
Subpart B Requirements for Specific Standardized Cheese and Related
Products
Sec. 133.188 Semisoft part-skim cheeses.
(a) The cheeses for which definitions and standards of identity are
prescribed by this section are semisoft part-skim cheeses for which
specifically applicable definitions and standards of identity are not
prescribed by other sections of this part. They are made from partly
skimmed milk and other ingredients specified in this section, by the
procedure set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. They contain not
more than 50 percent of moisture, and their solids contain not less than
45 percent, but less than 50 percent, of milkfat, as determined by the
methods set forth in Sec. 133.5 (a), (b), and (d). If the milk used is
not pasteurized, the cheese so made is cured at a temperature of not
less than 35 [deg]F, for not less than 60 days.
(b) Milk, which may be pasteurized or clarified or both, and which
may be warmed, is subjected to the action of harmless lactic-acid-
producing bacteria or other harmless flavor-producing bacteria, present
in such milk or added thereto. Sufficient rennet, rennet paste, extract
of rennet paste, or other safe and suitable milk-clotting enzyme that
produces equivalent curd formation singly or in any combination (with or
without purified calcium chloride in a quantity not more than 0.02
percent, calculated as anhydrous calcium chloride, of the weight of the
milk) is added to set the milk to a semisolid mass. Harmless artificial
coloring may be added. After coagulation the mass is so treated as to
promote and regulate the separation of whey and curd. Such treatment may
include one or more of the following: Cutting, stirring, heating,
dilution with water or brine. The whey, or part of it, is drained off,
and the curd is collected and shaped. It may be placed in forms, and it
may be pressed. Harmless flavor-producing microorganisms may be added.
It may be cured in a manner to promote the growth of biological curing
agents. Salt may be added during the procedure. A harmless preparation
of enzymes of animal or plant origin capable of aiding in the curing or
development of flavor of semisoft part-skim cheese may be added in such
quantity that the weight of the solids of such preparation is not more
than 0.1 percent of the weight of the milk used.
(c) For the purposes of this section:
(1) The word ``milk'' means cow's milk or goat's milk or sheep's
milk or mixtures of two or all of these. Such milk may be adjusted by
separating part of the fat therefrom or (in the case of cow's milk) by
adding one or more of the following: Cream, skim milk, concentrated skim
milk, nonfat dry milk; (in the case of goat's milk) the corresponding
products from goat's milk; (in the case of sheep's milk) the
corresponding products from sheep's milk; water in a quantity sufficient
to reconstitute any such concentrated or dried products used.
(2) Milk shall be deemed to have been pasteurized if it has been
held at a temperature of not less than 143 [deg]F for a period of not
less than 30 minutes, or for a time and at a temperature equivalent
thereto in phosphatase destruction. A semisoft part-skim cheese shall
[[Page 362]]
be deemed not to have been made from pasteurized milk if 0.25 gram shows
a phenol equivalent of more than 5 micrograms when tested by the method
prescribed in Sec. 133.5(c).
(d) Semisoft part-skim cheeses in the form of slices or cuts in
consumer-sized packages may contain an optional mold-inhibiting
ingredient consisting of sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium sorbate,
or any combination of two or more of these, in an amount not to exceed
0.3 percent by weight, calculated as sorbic acid.
(e) The name of each semisoft part-skim cheese for which a
definition and standard of identity is prescribed by this section is
``Semisoft part-skim cheese,'' preceded or followed by:
(1) The specific common or usual name of such semisoft cheese, if
any such name has become generally recognized therefor; or
(2) If no such specific common or usual name has become generally
recognized therefor, an arbitrary or fanciful name which is not false or
misleading in any particular.
(f)(1) When milk other than cow's milk is used in whole or in part,
the name of the cheese includes the statement ``made from ------'', the
blank being filled in with the name or names of the milk used, in order
of predominance by weight.
(2) If semi-soft part-skim cheese in sliced or cut form contains an
optional mold-inhibiting ingredient as specified in paragraph (d) of
this section, the label shall bear the statement ``------ added to
retard mold growth'' or ``------ added as a preservative'', the blank
being filled in with the common name or names of the mold-inhibiting
ingredient or ingredients used.
(3) Wherever the name of the food appears on the label so
conspicuously as to be easily seen under customary conditions of
purchase, the words and statements prescribed by this section, showing
the optional ingredient used, shall immediately and conspicuously
precede or follow such name, without intervening written, printed, or
graphic matter.
(g) Each of the ingredients used in the food shall be declared on
the label as required by the applicable sections of parts 101 and 130 of
this chapter.
[42 FR 14366, Mar. 19, 1977, as amended at 49 FR 10096, Mar. 19, 1984;
58 FR 2895, Jan. 6, 1993]
Back to Top
© 2007 Betterchem Corp.
|
