General Standard for Cheese:CODEX STAN 283-1978
1. SCOPE
This Standard applies to all products, intended for direct consumption or further processing, in conformity with the definition of cheese in Section 2 of this Standard.Subject to the provisions of this Standard, standards for individual varieties of cheese, or groups of varieties of cheese, may contain provisions which are more specific than those in this Standard and in these cases, those specific provisions shall apply.
2. DESCRIPTION
2.1 Cheese is the ripened or unripened soft, semi-hard, hard, or extra-hard product, which may be coated, and in which the whey protein/casein ratio does not exceed that of milk, obtained by:
(a) coagulating wholly or partly the protein of milk, skimmed milk, partly skimmed milk, cream, whey cream or buttermilk, or any combination of these materials, through the action of rennet or other suitable coagulating agents, and by partially draining the whey resulting from the coagulation, while respecting the principle that cheese-making results in a concentration of milk protein (in particular, the casein portion), and that consequently, the protein content of the cheese will be distinctly higher than the protein level of the blend of the above milk materials from which the cheese was made; and/or
(b) processing techniques involving coagulation of the protein of milk and/or products obtained from milk which give an end-product with similar physical, chemical and organoleptic characteristics as the product defined under (a).
2.1.1 Ripened cheese is cheese which is not ready for consumption shortly after manufacture but which must be held for such time, at such temperature, and under such other conditions as will result in the necessary biochemical and physical changes characterizing the cheese in question.
2.1.2 Mould ripened cheese is
