Balances Differential weighing

For more than 200 years, the Société des Caves et des Differential weighing Producteurs Réunis de Roque- fort (United Producers and guides the maturation of Maturers of Roquefort Cheese Company) – known simply as Roquefort cheese the “Company ” – has collected sheep’s milk, turned it into The R&D unit comprises the Quality Con- ter in November, compared to 85g/l of cheese and matured it before trol Laboratory and research and develop- milkfat and 65g/l of protein matter in packaging the cheese and ment staff who work on improving the August. The cheese maker therefore has to delivering it throughout the quality of existing products and develop- adapt the technology to his raw material world. During the last 20 years, ing new products. Since the production in order to obtain a product of constant production has diversified and process involves the use of raw milk, the quality. In order to verify the parameters unit carries out various bacteriological, required by the Roquefort AOC label (milk although Roquefort cheese is physical and chemical controls, from the solids ≥55g per 100g of cheese and a still produced in Roquefort, incoming milk up to the ready-for-sale milk fat to total milk solids ratio ≥52%) as required by the AOC label cheeses. The purpose of these controls is and those of the different sheep’s milk (Appellation d’Origine Contrô- firstly to ensure the absence of pathogens products, the laboratory carries out lée), the Company also pro- and secondly to ensure AOC production around 100 milk solid assays every day. requirements have been complied with. This represents a considerable handling duces Feta cheese in Lozère, time. The cheese sample has to be Pérail cheese in Aveyron, weighed, homogenised in a capsule with Broccio cheese in Corsica and Around 100 milk solid assays sand before leaving it in an oven for three Ossau Iraty cheese in the carried out every day… hours. After being left to cool in a desicca- As Géraldine Pons, the manager of the tor for 45 minutes, the sample is weighed Pyrenees. Physical/Chemical analysis unit explains, for the first time, and then returned to the Roquefort has to comply with certain oven for one and a half hours. The dish is parameters. The Company produces three then removed and, after cooling, the sam- types of Roquefort, each with a different ple is weighed a second time. The differ- taste and texture: Baragnaudes, Templier ence between the final and penultimate and Abeille. In order to obtain these dif- weighings must be less than 1 milligram. ferent characteristics, three strains of For each sample, the tare, the humid Penicillium roqueforti are used among sample and the samples when they are the hundred or so strains cultured and removed each time from the oven must be studied on the site. weighed: when 120 samples are tested in one day, that means 480 measurements Different analyses are carried out on the have to be taken manually in front of the sheep’s milk: balance display. – An assay of the milk fat and protein matter to determine the materials bal- ance … with two AX balances equipped – Nitrogenous matter, calcium, pH, etc – with the differential weighing all parameters that help to guide the application cheese maker during production. Bruno Constantin, Supplies Manager, contacted METTLER TOLEDO to try out These parameters change over the lacta- their new generation of balances. After tion period and sheep do not produce milk studying the requirements and budget, he throughout the year. The milk contains purchased two AX balances equipped with 60g/l of milkfat and 45g/l of protein mat- the differential weighing application. The technician now identifies, on each the purchase of a second AX soon justified balance, the sample number and name itself.” In addition, the two AX balances ✗ and each balance then records the weight are connected to a computer which records of each capsule and the weight of the the data, ensuring all results are fully humid sample. When the last weighing is traceable. The technicians can work on carried out, only the capsule number has either AX, and the whole team is delighted to be indicated to the AX and it auto- with how easy they are to use. matically calculates the humidity level: Being cautious, Géraldine Pons asked us “Before, we might inverse the figures, or on the day we demonstrated the equip- forget to note down the capsule number or ment what would happen if there was a the weights. We then lost a whole day’s power cut. After weighing out 90 samples, work and we had to start again from zero the METTLER TOLEDO sales engineer cut the next day, not to mention the delays off the power to the balance for several this caused in passing on the results. The minutes. When he connected it back up new balance avoids errors in recording “all of the results were in fact still stored figures .” in the balance!” Why use two AX balances? “After having worked for one year with a single AX, we found that all of the technicians wanted to use the AX (time savings, elimination of calculations, reliability of results). Since the number of analyses required prevented us doing everything on a single balance,

The automatic door opening facilitates handling of the capsules of cheese