Cheese molding in closed packaging?
This blog might help you find a solution!
An unpleasant phenomenon cheese manufacturers encounter is mold on their cheese in the (supposedly) closed packaging! The consequences can be very uncomfortable – from a customer sending you a reclamation to a customer stopping to buy your brand completely if the problem occurs too often.
The reasons behind mold issues can lie in many different areas: the product itself, the ripening process, the production hall, the production process, the packaging and finally also the handling in logistics and at the consumer’s.
This does not make it easy to find a solution if mold occurs!
When originating from a packaging-related cause, the mold typically grows because of a leaky packaging – which again can have many triggers and reasons and which is why the development of a new packaging is so complex!
Product protection is one of the main tasks of packaging and it plays an important role in keeping products’ quality on highest levels.
To understand, what packaging can do to protect your product, we have prepared a short crash course on pack integrity for you:
Achieving pack integrity and thus protecting products starts with the selection of the right packaging material and machine for your individual product. You need the right barrier to protect your cheese from oxygen entering the pack and moisture going out of it. This gives the loafs, dices, slices and more the perfect atmosphere to stay fresh and tasty.
However, the best barriers cannot do their work if the packaging is not sealed correctly.
That’s where the packaging machine comes in. It takes the right setting of the machine – remember, you need a specific time, pressure and temperature for sealing to work – to match the packaging materials’ properties. But: Even though you might set everything right, you might still encounter issues such as packs that are not sealing at all or just opening too easy. If so, you will want to check if your machine has been maintained properly, because non-maintained heating stations and sealing bars can lead to not tightly sealed areas. Besides that, blunt knives can cause this tearing of lidding films that consumers really dislike when opening the packaging for the first time. This does not necessarily cause extra early molding because the packaging has been opened by the consumer, but it is still a reason for some consumers to discontinue buying certain brands!
So, as you see, mold in cheese and cheese packaging can get quite complex! As a quick first aid, here’s the 3 things to consider on the packaging side when you experience mold and you feel like your packaging might be the issue:
- Do I have the right packaging with the right barrier for my product?
- Are the machine settings correct for my packaging?
- When was the last maintenance of my machine?
If you would like to learn more about packaging materials, we offer our customers free courses on many packaging topics in our PackScience Center!