Effect of Season and Factory on Cheese-Making Efficiency in Parmigiano Reggiano Manufacture

The assessment of the efficiency of the cheese-making process (ECMP) is crucial for the profitability of cheese-factories. A simple way to estimate the ECMP is the measure of the estimated cheese-making losses (ECL), expressed by the ratio between the concentration of each constituent in the residual whey and in the processed milk. The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of the season and cheese factory on the efficiency of the cheese-making process in Parmigiano Reggiano cheese manufacture. The study followed the production of 288 Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on 12 batches in three commercial cheese factories. For each batch, samples of the processed milk and whey were collected. Protein, casein, and fat ECL resulted in an average of 27.01%, 0.72%, and 16.93%, respectively. Both milk crude protein and casein contents were negatively correlated with protein ECL, r = −0.141 (p ≤ 0.05), and r = −0.223 (p ≤ 0.001), respectively. The same parameters resulted in a negative correlation with casein ECL (p ≤ 0.001) (r = −0.227 and −0.212, respectively). Moreover, fat ECL was correlated with worse milk coagulation properties and negatively correlated with casein content (r = −0.120; p ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, ECLs depend on both milk characteristics and season.