21 CFR 133.129 – Dry curd cottage cheese
(a) Cottage cheese dry curd is the soft uncured cheese prepared by the procedure set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. The finished food contains less than 0.5 percent milkfat. It contains not more than 80 percent of moisture, as determined by the method prescribed in § 133.5(a).
(b)(1) One or more of the dairy ingredients specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section is pasteurized; calcium chloride may be added in a quantity of not more than 0.02 percent (calculated as anhydrous calcium chloride) of the weight of the mix; thereafter one of the following methods is employed:
(i) Harmless lactic-acid-producing bacteria, with or without rennet and/or other safe and suitable milk-clotting enzyme that produces equivalent curd formation, are added and it is held until it becomes coagulated. The coagulated mass may be cut; it may be warmed; it may be stirred; it is then drained. The curd may be washed with water and further drained; it may be pressed, chilled, worked, seasoned with salt; or
(ii) Food grade phosphoric acid, lactic acid, citric acid, or hydrochloric acid, with or without rennet and/or other safe and suitable milk-clotting enzyme that produces equivalent curd formation, is added in such amount as to reach a pH of between 4.5 and 4.7; coagulation to a firm curd is achieved while heating to a maximum of 120 °F without agitation during a continuous process. The coagulated mass may be cut; it may be warmed; it may be stirred; it is then drained. The curd is washed with water, stirred, and further drained. It may be pressed, chilled, worked, seasoned with salt.
(iii) Food grade acids as provided in paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section, D-Glucono-delta-lactone with or without rennet, and/or other safe and suitable milk clotting enzyme that produces equivalent curd formation, are added in such amounts as to reach a final pH value in the range of 4.5-4.8, and it is held until it becomes coagulated. The coagulated mass may be cut; it may be warmed; it may be stirred; it is then drained. The curd is then washed with water, and further drained. It may be pressed, chilled, worked, and seasoned with salt.
(2) The dairy ingredients referred to in paragraph (b)(1) of this section are sweet skim milk, concentrated skim milk, and nonfat dry milk. If concentrated skim milk or nonfat dry milk is used, water may be added in a quantity not in excess of that removed when the skim milk was concentrated or dried.
(3) For the purposes of this section the term “skim milk” means the milk of cows from which the milk fat has been separated, and “concentrated skim milk” means skim milk from which a portion of the water has been removed by evaporation.
(c) The name of the food consists of the following two phrases which shall appear together:
(1) The words “cottage cheese dry curd” or alternatively “dry curd cottage cheese” which shall all appear in type of the same size and style.
(2) The words “less than
(d) When either of the optional processes described in paragraph (b)(1) (ii) or (iii) of this section is used to make cottage cheese dry curd, the label shall bear the statement “Directly set” or “Curd set by direct acidification”. Wherever the name of the food appears on the label so conspicuously as to be seen under customary conditions of purchase, the statement specified in this paragraph, showing the optional process used, shall immediately and conspicuously precede or follow such name without intervening written, printed, or graphic matter.
(e) 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, except that milk-clotting enzymes may be declared by the word “enzymes”.