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The flavor, quality and composition of market brick cheese varies greatly. Its moisture content often ranges from 37 to 43 per cent. The flavor may be similar to Limburger or it may even resemble that of Cheddar. Such a great variation in a specific food product tends toward disappointment for the consumer. It is believed that a more uniform standard of quality for this product is needed to materially increase its consumption. Therefore, a detailed study of some of the factors involved in the manufacture of brick cheese may help to improve the quality and aid in determining a satisfactory standard.

The prime object of the work undertaken in the present study has been done with the view of determining whether or not the quality and yield of brick cheese may be improved by pasteurizing the milk from which the cheese is made. An effort should be made to put brick cheese-making on a more scientific basis and at the same time produce cheese of better and more uniform quality. Since milk, containing large numbers of undesirable microorganisms thus causing objectionable flavors and odors in dairy products, is frequently delivered to cheese factories to be processed, pasteurization seems to be one way of attacking the problem to accomplish the desirable results. In a measure it gives the cheesemaker a better opportunity to encourage the growth of the more desirable organisms by inoculating them into he milk after it is pasteurized and cooled down, and it also gives him a better opportunity to check the growth of the undesirable ones since most of them are killed at pasteurization temperature. It is essential to have the proper types of organisms present in the processing and ripening of the cheese; since closely associated with bacterial reproduction, there is always some form of decomposition and these products of decomposition give the cheese its flavor and odor. Is is a mistake to think that milk can be produced under unsanitary conditions and that is can be purified by heating. Pasteurization cannot atone for filth. This point should be strongly emphasized. To be made into rick cheese, milk should be clean, sweet, and free from objectionable flavors and odors and should be produced under the most sanitary conditions possible.