240 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF CHEESE-MAKING 



to fat, to make cheese of composition such that its 

 water-free substance contains less than 50 per cent 

 of fat, provided, of course, there is no abnormal 

 loss of fat in the process of cheese-making. For 

 example, it can readily be seen from the table on 

 p. 234 that normal milk containing 4 per cent of 

 fat can suffer a loss of nearly one-fourth of its fat, 

 before the composition of the cheese drops below 

 standard. Normal milk containing 3.50 per cent 

 of fat can be reduced to about 3 per cent of fat 

 before the cheese made from it contains less than 

 50 per cent of fat in its water-free substance. 

 Ordinary milk containing 3 per cent of fat could 

 have its fat reduced nearly to 2.75 per cent before 

 making cheese below standard. These facts go to 

 show that the United States standard is well above 

 the limits of danger for cheese properly made from 

 normal milk. 



Another question in connection with the cheese 

 standard may be asked: Why not use as a standard 

 the percentage of fat in the cheese itself in- 

 stead of in the water- free substance? The present 

 standard has for its purpose, the prevention of the 

 use of skimmeti milk for making cheese to* be sold as 

 normal or whole-milk cheese. It does not aim to con- 

 trol the amount of moisture in cheese. If the 

 percentage of fat in cheese were used as a standard, 

 then the amount of water in cheese would become 

 an important factor; because the greater the mois- 

 ture content of cheese, the less the percentage of fat 

 in the case of cheese made from milk of the same 

 composition. It is recognized that different, markets 

 call for different percentages of water in cheese 



