© 2021 Chr. Hansen. All rights reserved.
Energy & CO2
consumption
Figure 1: Simple comparison of the culture systems bulk starter and direct starters
Ingredients ¦ IDM
COST STRUCTURE BS CIU PER TON CHEESE* OPERATIONAL COSTS UNDERESTIMATED
75 kto
45 kto
Figure 2: Cost per ton of cheese as a cost-in-use (CIU) when (re)investing in a completely
new bulk system with compartment, technology and peripherals (water,
energy, sterile air).
In the case of direct starters, you simply
buy a culture bag pre-prepared and
delivered by a culture house. These cultures
have a defined quality with consistent
properties that are well known and
tested and can be used when and in the
quantity needed. The use of direct starters
takes the risk and responsibility away
from the cheese makers. Every bag of
direct starter culture contributes to the
stability and safety of the cheese process.
As a variable bill of material item, there is
also full cost transparency.
In large-scale industrial cheese making
it is critical to keep variations as low
as possible to ensure maximized yield
and minimum wastage and downgrades
– direct contributors to profitability. Variations
in both the acidification process
and ripening, are more likely with bulk
starters. This is because the composition
and activity level of the culture propagated
during those 18-24hrs varies. Optimization
is limited. It requires continuous
effort to keep bulk starters working well.
And what does it cost?
In principle, there are three distinct cost
categories:
your responsibility
– your risk
Bulk Starter: A multi-step
process
Direct Starter: A single–
step process
Milk
Water
& cleaning
Heating
& Cooling
Inoculation Incubation
PH test &
Laboratorium
Cooling
18- 24 hours
EASY-SET® FLORA™
cultures
Cheese making
Milk Cheese making
10 minutes
1. direct variable: accrued proportionally
to the production quantity (output in
tons of cheese) and have practically no
economies of scales. Examples: skimmed
milk/media used, inoculated culture,
energy.
2. indirect variable: not necessarily
proportional to the production quantity
(output neutral), and offer economies of
scale. Examples: staff, dosage of culture,
disposal of surplus quantities (wasted
bulk starter), maintenance or breakdown
in the bulk culture system and quality assurance.
These costs are often accepted
as ‘given’ but mistakenly not specifically
attributed to the usage of bulk starter.
© 2021 Chr. Hansen. All rights reserved.
• costs of inoculation culture for bulk starter are low (< 5 €
/ ton cheese)
• costs of energy and CIP have no economies of scale
• cost of labor decrease with increasing production
volumes
• cost of quality assurance are mostly only considered for
standard samples and analysis
• overconsumption of bulk starter to compensate
acidification trouble are not precisely considered (fixed
0 10 20 30 40 overconsumption rates in bill of material)
15 kto
direct variable indirect variable fix costs (CAPEX)
* Source: Chr. Hansen experience from worldwide projects.
CiU / ton cheese
yearly cheese production kilotons (kto)
July/August 2021 ¦ international-dairy.com · 7
/international-dairy.com
