Food Chain: Ricotta Cheese Production - Special Academic Support

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The choice was made in favor of Ricotta cheese, because it makes the basis for and is added to a range of products, such as cheesecakes, cookies, pancakes, pizza, lasagna, ravioli, etc.¹. For many people, ricotta cheese is an integral part of their diet.

*Diagram 1. Ricotta Cheese Value Chain.*

Though a recent research has shown that milk consumption rates have dropped among Americans over the past year³, it still remains one of the basic drinks along with juice, tea and coffee in most U.S. households.⁴ However, ricotta, which used to be the most demanded types of cheese across the United States, seems to have worn out its welcome. Giving credit to where it belongs and proving that ricotta cheese is one of the best recipes to come from Italy along with pizza, one must mention that the food chain of ricotta has become quite simple due to improvements in its production.⁵

Despite originating from Italy, ricotta is nowadays made worldwide, and the united States are no exception. The journey of the product starts at the dairy factory, where cows are milked automatically. As soon as the milk is obtained, it is packaged by the factory staff and sent to the cheese making company, where it is to be processed for the further retrieval of whey, an essential ingredient for producing ricotta. The distance between Garelick Farms and the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company makes roughly 191.5 miles,⁶ which adds to the overall cost of the product considerably.

It should be noted that the recent improvement of the ricotta production technique, which occurs at the given stage, has allowed for the creation of ricotta with extended shelf life (i.e., several months). The stage involves the processing of whet under the supervision of the factory staff. The introduction of the mass that is to be processed into ricotta to closed steel containers can be considered a catalyst for the stage of splitting milk into curd and whey for the further production of curd.

As soon as whey is retrieved, the same staff members introduce whey to intense heat so that it could turn to curd. Though the temperature for heating whey may vary, recent researches confirmed that the retrieval of whey occurs faster and more efficiently at the temperature of ca. 85° C.⁷ Vat, which is also obtained in the course of the procedure, is not used in the process of creating ricotta and is used as the ingredient for other dairy products.

The curd that the process of heating whet results in is afterwards collected with the help of specific equipment and cleaned through an autonomous washing system.⁸ The drainage system, which is utilized for squeezing extra liquid from the product, is maintained in order to the factory staff and maintaining the ricotta mass under constant heat.

The transference pomp then permits the staff to load the cheese mass into the corresponding machine for homogenizing treatment. The process is handled by the same people that worked on the process of whet heating and further processing of the curd.

As soon as the mass has been drained and has undergone the key processes required for obtaining the flavor, the consistency, the mass and the taste that ricotta is supposed to have based on the FDA standards, the product is packaged into the corresponding containers. The procedure is carried out by a different team of the factory staff, yet still occurs in the same factory, where the process of ricotta production started. Traditionally, this sort of cheese is packaged into plastic containers of various sizes, 15 oz being the most common one.

After the process of packaging is over, the cheese is delivered to a variety of shops for retail in the home market. Seeing that the transportation costs also add to the overall price of the product, its value rises to $25.00 in local shops. Alternatively, the factory may decide to supply to final product to not only retail shops, but also the stores that also allow for buying goods in stock. Consequently, the price for the latter option may be reduced to $20.00 per package once the customer buys a specific amount of the latter (i.e., 20 or more).

In the course of the milk production and its further distribution to retail shops, malls, stores, etc., the product is usually advertized via various media. Though TV commercials are traditionally used, they are quite costly, which makes the Garelick Farms resort to other types of promotion, including booklets in malls, online advertisements, etc. As soon as the customer locates the product in a commercial and identifies it as the one worth trying, a package of cheese is bought and travels to its new owners kitchen.

Bibliography

Dairy Data. USDA. 2014. Web.

Food/Fiber/Softs Futures Contract Specifications. TradingCharts.com. 2015. Web.

How Far It Is Between. Free Map Tools. 2015. Web.

Milk Innovation Group. Ricotta Production Plant. YouTube. 2014. Web.

Ricotta Recipes. Food Network. 2015. Web.

Stewart, Hayden, Diansheng Dong, Andrea Carlson. Why Are Americans Consuming Less Fluid Milk? A Look at Generational Differences in Intake Frequency. Economic Research Report Number 149 (2013): 1 35. Web.

Footnotes

1. Ricotta Recipes (Food Network, 2015. Web.

2. Food/Fiber/Softs Futures Contract Specifications Web.

3. Hayden Stewart, Diansheng Dong, Andrea Carlson, Why Are Americans Consuming Less Fluid Milk? A Look at Generational Differences in Intake Frequency, Economic Research Report Number 149 (2013):2. Web.

4. Dairy Data, USDA, 2014. Web.

5. Milk Innovation Group, Ricotta Production Plant, YouTube. 2014. Web.

6. How Far It Is Between, Free Map Tools, 2015. Web.

7. Milk Innovation Group, Ricotta Production Plant, YouTube. 2014. Web.

8. Milk Innovation Group, Ricotta Production Plant, YouTube. 2014. Web.

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