Which cheeses are pasteurized: Guide to food and drink during pregnancy — text version

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What cheeses should I eat during pregnancy?

What cheeses should I eat during pregnancy?

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Cheese News

You (or someone you know) are pregnant, but your love of cheese is stronger than anything? Would you like to know exactly which cheeses are safe to eat and why? 

Here’s a quick and precise answer. The cheeses that are safe to eat when you’re pregnant are : 

• Hard cheeses; 
• Mozzarella ; 
• Certain soft and bloomy-rind cheeses; 
• Fresh cheese

To find out more and discover all the cheeses you can eat when you’re expecting a baby, come and talk to the French experts at Paroles de Fromagers!

Good news, ladies! Hard cheeses such as Cheddar, Gruyère, Parmesan and Comté are generally safe to eat, as they are made from pasteurized milk. What’s more, they also have a low moisture content, making it difficult for bacteria potentially harmful to the fetus to grow. Parmesan pasta and gratins sprinkled with Gruyère!

Mozzarella

Mamma mia! Here’s one of France’s favorite Italian cheeses: the famous mozzarella. Mozzarella is also made from 90% pasteurized milk. However, you should always check that you’re not buying fresh, unpasteurized mozzarella, which could present a risk.

Soft and bloomy rind cheeses

Here’s some news that will delight lovers of strong cheeses! Certain soft cheeses, such as Camembert or Brie, can be eaten during pregnancy. On one condition, however: it must be made from… pasteurized milk! As you can see, this condition is a sine qua non. What’s more, bloomy-rind cheeses have an edible outer layer that protects them from undesirable bacteria.

Fresh cheese

Ricotta, one of the world’s lowest-calorie cheeses, is also one of the cheeses permitted during pregnancy. Fresh cheeses such as cream cheese and ricotta are usually made from pasteurized milk.

Why do cheeses for pregnant women need to be pasteurized?

We explained earlier that the cheeses permitted during pregnancy are pasteurized. Are you wondering why? Here’s a detailed explanation. 

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to destroy or inactivate pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and yeasts. Producers can pasteurize their milk at temperatures ranging from 63°C to around 72°C. 

During pregnancy, many bacteria can be harmful and dangerous to the baby. This is particularly true of listeria bacteria, which can lead to complications such as: 

• miscarriage 
• Neonatal infection; 
• premature birth. 

This is why the cheeses recommended during pregnancy are necessarily pasteurized cheeses. Heating the milk kills any bacteria potentially harmful to fetal development.

List of the 15 most popular cheeses for pregnant women

For the greediest and most impatient among you, here’s a short list of 15 cheeses for pregnant women that you’re sure to love. A list made in Paroles de Fromagers, of course: 

1. Cheddar: origin: England | family: hard cheese 
2. Gruyère: origin: Switzerland | family: hard cheese
3. Parmesan: origin: Italy | family: hard cheese
4. Comté : origin : France | Family : hard cheese 
5. Emmental : origin : Switzerland | Family : hard cheese
6. Edam : origin : Netherlands | Family : hard cheese
7. Gouda : origin : Netherlands | Family : hard cheese
8. Colby : origin : USA | Family : hard cheese
9. Monterey Jack: origin: USA | Family: hard cheese
10. Mozzarella (made from pasteurized milk): Origin: Italy | Family: String cheese
11. Goat’s cheese (made from pasteurized milk): origin: variable, many found in France | Family: soft cheese
12. Fresh cheese  (ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese): origin: variable, produced in many countries

Our best cheese recipes for pregnant women

Well, it’s all making us hungry, isn’t it? So here are the best recipe ideas for pregnant women who love cheese – let’s get started! 

Vegetable and cheddar pie

Prepare a savory tart with shortcrust pastry, then top with vegetables of your choice (such as zucchinis, peppers and tomatoes) and slices of cheddar cheese. Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and lightly gratinated.

Warm goat’s cheese salad 

A great classic! Prepare a green salad with fresh vegetables, then toast slices of farmhouse bread. Add slices of goat’s cheese to the toasted bread, then place under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese has melted slightly. Arrange the slices of bread with the warm cheese on top of the salad and drizzle with the vinaigrette of your choice.

Pizza margherita with mozzarella

Prepare a pizza by spreading tomato sauce on pizza dough. Top with slices of mozzarella and fresh basil leaves. Bake until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Spinach and feta quiche

Prepare a quiche by mixing eggs, cream, cooked and drained spinach and diced feta cheese. Pour the mixture into a shortcrust or puff pastry, then bake until the quiche is cooked through and golden-brown.

Original idea: Crostini with ricotta and red berries

Delicately baked bread slices topped with a generous helping of ricotta, red berries, a little honey and a few mint leaves. Perfect to eat during parties and events!

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Milk pasteurization at home

What is milk pasteurization?

Milk pasteurization is a technology for decontaminating milk and extending its shelf life, which consists in heating the liquid once at a certain temperature for a certain time.

This technology is more than a hundred and fifty years old — it was first used in the middle of the 19th century by a microbiologist from France named Louis Pasteur. Actually, the name of the technology came from his last name.

There are various milk pasteurization modes — from long-term pasteurization (lasts 30-40 minutes at a temperature of 60 to 80 degrees) to instant (a few seconds at a temperature of 98 degrees). There is also ultra-pasteurization — it takes place at a temperature of more than 100 degrees.

Of all the pasteurization modes in home cheesemaking, long-term pasteurization is most often used (more on that below).

Why is pasteurization necessary in cheese making? Can I use commercially already pasteurized milk?

The choice of milk for cheese making is a double-edged sword. If you bought store-bought milk, then it is already pasteurized, but the chance of getting cheese is 50/50. That is, either it works or it doesn’t. And it is likely that with pasteurized store-bought milk, you will have to use all sorts of tricks, such as adding calcium chloride, so that you still get cheese.

Fresh farm unpasteurized milk, in turn, almost always gives a guaranteed result — with good ingredients and following the recipe, the cheese turns out to be almost excellent.

But unpasteurized milk can harbor certain threats in the form of unfriendly bacteria. Therefore, pasteurization is almost always required for such milk. And even the presence of veterinary documents for milk and the presence of a “verified” farmer does not guarantee you the absence of unwanted microbes.

Therefore, our advice is this: it is still better to pasteurize farm milk to prevent the development of pathogenic microflora in your cheese.

Milk pasteurization technology at home

To pasteurize milk at home, you will need the following equipment:

• Saucepan with lid
• milk thermometer
• skimmer or large wooden spoon/shovel

And you need to be patient.

1. So, pour fresh milk into a saucepan, put it on medium heat and, stirring constantly, heat up to 72-74 degrees (use a thermometer). Some sources say that you need to heat up to 82, but this is reinsurance (see table below on the page).
2. Once the milk has reached the right temperature, cover it with a lid and let it stand for 30 seconds.
3. After 30 seconds, place the saucepan in a container of cold water (you can use a large sink or bathtub). Here you quickly cool it to the temperature required according to the recipe (from 22 to 38 degrees, depending on the type of cheese).

Everything! Milk is pasteurized. After that, you can go directly to cheese making.

According to the source, the use of a temperature that kills tuberculosis bacteria also eliminates other bacteria that are found in milk and are often pathogenic. If the specified mode of pasteurization of milk is observed, up to 99% of the microflora of milk dies, not excluding mammakoki and Escherichia coli, which are harmful to cheese making.

By the way! Milk not suitable for cheese making within two hours after milking! (it contains natural inhibitors that prevent the development of lactic acid bacteria). So if the milk is literally fresh, then you need to wait a couple of hours. Read more about the suitability of milk for cheese making here.

Also a very important point : after pasteurization, milk becomes less cheesy, because. calcium ions are released from milk. And for coagulation (rennet coagulation) of milk, calcium ions are necessary. To make up for their deficiency, after pasteurization of milk, when making cheese, add calcium chloride to milk.

What is pasteurization, use in cheese making

Despite the fact that many people try to buy only homemade milk, being sure that it contains the maximum amount of useful substances for this product, experts strongly recommend avoiding this choice. Of course, there are more useful substances and vitamins in homemade milk, but at the same time, it is too risky to drink an unprocessed product, because pathogenic microorganisms that threaten human health may also be present in it. The most optimal solution, according to experts, will be the use of pasteurized milk. Pasteurization is a specific liquid treatment process. Let’s talk about this in more detail.

Pasteurization

Every housewife knows that before drinking milk, it is desirable to boil it. What is pasteurization? This process is understood as the thermal process of processing a liquid, whether it be milk or juice. But unlike boiling, this process is more gentle.

Pasteurization of natural milk allows you to clean it from pathogens, fungi, increasing the safety of the drink, as well as extending the shelf life of the product. But at the same time, high temperature, logically, along with pathogenic microflora, destroys useful substances, vitamins. And this, in fact, is the difference between conventional boiling and pasteurization.

The modes of milk pasteurization are actually chosen in such a way as to minimize the loss of useful properties and at the same time destroy as many pathogens as possible. The founder of the process called pasteurization was Louis Pasteur — it is logical where the name of this thermal process came from.

There are several modes of pasteurization:

• instant;
• fast;
• long;

It all depends on the temperature at which the milk is kept and, accordingly, the holding time.

In addition to pasteurization, there is also the UHT process. In practice, such a product is no different from sterilized milk.

The need for ultra-pasteurization arose due to criticism around pasteurized milk — some experts nevertheless insisted that this process, although aimed at the destruction of pathogenic microflora, is not capable of completely clearing milk of pathogens.

The pasteurization process is not able to fully protect against pathogenic microflora and harmful bacteria — destroying some, others become less active.

UHT requires a high heating temperature of 140°. Under such conditions, the milk is kept for 20 seconds, after which it is sharply cooled to 4-5°C. This treatment allows you to clean the liquid from absolutely all bacteria, fungi and pathogenic microorganisms.

But along with them useful substances and vitamins also go away. Therefore, ultra-pasteurized milk practically does not bring the expected benefits. But the shelf life of such a purified product reaches 5-6 weeks.

The essence of the process

The technology of pasteurization implies a one-time heating of the liquid to a temperature of 60-80°C, followed by holding for 30-60 minutes — it all depends on the mode chosen by the technologist.

Why is milk pasteurized in factories? To disinfect the product and extend its shelf life. This means that milk pasteurized in production will last longer on store shelves and will be sold in large quantities. Speaking of home pasteurization, it is carried out with the aim of producing homemade products.

It is also worth noting that during this heat treatment, the vegetative forms of microorganisms die, while the spores remain in a viable state, and as soon as favorable conditions arise, they begin to actively multiply. For this reason, pasteurized, unlike UHT and sterilized milk, has a short shelf life — a few days after opening the package.

According to a number of clinical studies, it has been proven that the nutritional value of such milk remains practically unchanged. This is achieved through the use of gentle thermal conditions of heat treatment.

Depending on the duration of the heat treatment, there are several modes of pasteurization:

1. Long. The product is heated to a temperature of 63-65°C and kept for 30-60 minutes.
2. Short. The liquid, the substance is heated up to t=85-90°, and the holding time is already 30-60 seconds.
3. Instant. The milk is heated to a temperature of 98° and kept at it for only a few seconds.

Help! Although industrially pasteurized milk retains most of the nutrients and vitamins, it cannot be considered absolutely safe from the point of view of microbes in it. Due to them, there is a rapid souring of the product.

Read more How long does milk last?

How long milk is stored after pasteurization

What is sterilized milk, we figured it out. Now let’s talk about the shelf life of the product that has undergone this heat treatment.

Fresh milk does not keep as long as many of us would like. Therefore, when purchasing pasteurized milk, consumers sincerely believe that due to this heat treatment, the product will almost be preserved at the factory, which means that it is able to retain its useful properties and freshness for a long time. But, unfortunately, everything is not as cloudless as it should be.

The shelf life of ordinary pasteurized milk in sealed form is no more than 4 days, and after opening the package, it begins to sour after 24 hours. Let’s say more, even with such a short shelf life, the product should be in the refrigerator, because at room temperature it will lose its beneficial properties even faster and turn sour.

Tip! It is possible to extend the shelf life of pasteurized milk by pouring the product into a sealed glass container or by boiling it. In the first case, lactic acid bacteria can start up in the liquid even at the time of transfusion, and in the second case, the product should be boiled in advance, before it has become unusable, and such a procedure has not negatively affected the usefulness of the milk drink.

Speaking of ultra-pasteurization, the situation here differs to a large extent — milk is heated to critically high temperatures, which negates the existence of any viable microflora in it. Yes, milk no longer has useful properties, but its shelf life is already quite impressive, allowing it to be transported from the manufacturer to different points far from it, without fear for the safety of the taste of the product.

UHT milk can be stored in warehouses and other specialized places for several months. In open packaging, the shelf life is reduced, but, unlike a pasteurized product, we are not talking about a few days, but several weeks.

You should immediately understand that if you do not know the date of production of the product, then the expiration date is an abstract value. Pasteurized milk is a perishable product, and therefore, this aspect of the issue should be clarified — the release date and expiration date are indicated on the container.

Based on the same expiration date, it is also possible to determine the benefits of the drink at the same time. So, from all of the above, it follows that a truly natural and most healthy drink cannot be stored for a long time.

At what temperature should pasteurized milk be stored? The standard temperature for refrigerators is 6-8°C. Under such conditions, the product is able to retain its useful properties during the storage period specified by the manufacturer.

Use of milk in cheese making

Cheese is, of course, best made from natural milk. So it turns out tasty and most useful. But given the fact that such a product is not devoid of harmful bacteria, there is still a need for processing in order to reduce the pathogenic microflora in it.

Speaking about cheese making, the pasteurization process helps not only to extend the shelf life of the finished product, but also eliminates the lion’s share of pathogenic bacteria from it, leaving useful substances and vitamins to the maximum.

In addition, when using not natural milk, but pasteurized, it is extremely important to take into account that the limiting parameter of such is the maximum preservation of the composition and physico-chemical properties of milk, which affect the yield and quality of cheese.

Pasteurization in cheese making is carried out according to a certain technology: heating to a temperature of 71-72°C and holding for 20-25 seconds. If it is necessary to carry out a high bacterial contamination of milk raw materials, the regime is as follows: t = 74-75 ° C, the exposure time of the raw materials is 20-25 seconds.

Raw materials for the preparation of soft cheeses are subjected to pasteurization according to the scheme: t=80-85°, holding time — 5-10 seconds.

These modes do not mean that it is worth sticking to them — these are average statistics. Each cheese maker creates his own individual technology for making cheese, including pasteurization of raw materials.

Addition of calcium chloride to the raw material

Pasteurization, as previously discussed, breaks the structure of the milk clot, due to which the ability of the raw material to coagulate with the help of rennet is sharply reduced. In order to eventually get a cheese clot, it is necessary to introduce calcium salts into milk — calcium chloride in the form of a 40% solution. The substance is introduced at the rate of 100 kg of a normalized mixture — 10-40 grams of crystalline Ca.

It is possible to replace calcium chloride with its phosphate salts. By introducing Ca monocalcium phosphate in the amount of 15-30 grams per 100 kg of milk mixture, it will be possible to restore the coagulability of the milk clot.

Conclusion

Summarizing all of the above, let’s summarize:

1. Pasteurization is the process of heat treatment of a liquid or any other substance in order to purify it from pathogenic microflora and extend its shelf life.
2. There are several modes for such heat treatment: slow, fast and instant. The higher the product processing temperature, the shorter the heat treatment time.
3. Thanks to pasteurization, it is possible to obtain a product purified from pathogens that retains a maximum of useful substances.