Theme 8: Food Technology Preliminary Report of Greece Cultural & Social Digital documentation Laboratory by Eleni Liva, Flora Tzelepoglou, Dr. Sotiris Chtouris October 2011 REPORT ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY FROM TRADITIONAL PRACTICE TO CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGY IN PROCESSING SHEEP AND GOAT DAIRY PRODUCTS • Animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock and has been practiced for thousands of years, since the Neolithic Age. Greece ranks seventh in global goat milk production (5, 2%) and second among European Union countries (28, 1% of total goat milk production in the EU). Greece also breeds the 47, 7% of goats in the EU. These two sectors of animal production (sheep and goat) are of paramount importance not only for economic reasons, but because they also have social repercussions, especially in mountainous and hilly regions of Greece, as they help sustain the social fabric of local societies. Sheep and goat farming systems fall into three main categories: 1/Home-fed: In this category a small number of animals, usually from high performance breeds, are kept inside barns, as farming is intensive. 2/ Intensive farming: Under this system, practiced mainly in lowlands, animal farms are of small or medium size (60 to 80 animals). Sheep and goats belong to high performance breeds or to indigenous breeds that have been successfully cross-bred and give high yields. Basically they are kept in barns and graze in neighbouring pastures for only a few hours per day. 3/Extensive farming (with or without seasonal movement): This system is practiced in mountainous or hilly regions and herds number between 100 and 600 animals. Animals belong to indigenous breeds (mountain or island) of low performance, in spite of the fact that sheep and goats graze freely in natural pastures, all year long. In Greece pasture land is the most extensive natural land resource with tremendous economic and environmental value. It involves a surface of approximately 53 million hectares or 44% of total land surface. In general, designated pasture lands in our country are characterized by a great variety, either in relation to terrain or altitude, or vegetation and productivity. Given the large number of sheep ((9.300.000) and goats (5.500.000) that graze in grasslands, it is quite evident that grazing burdens the ecosystem of herbaceous and shrubby pastures alike. Consequently, the above mentioned animal population in relation to the aforementioned production of forage material and its relatively low nutritional value, can only subsist for a few months time, without any damage to the pastures. However, in practice, animal herds are kept in pastures all year long, weather permitting, that is why there is the phenomenon of over-grazing; indeed, pasture lands are being constantly downgraded in terms of biodiversity and productivity. Nowadays, nomadic pastoralism faces a lot of difficulties, that is why it is being gradually abandoned in favour of intensive farming. At the same time, strong objections have been proclaimed by scientist and environmentalists, on the issue of free grazing. The honorary chairman of the Greek Society for Environmental protection, Mr. Georgios Sfikas, says characteristically: “A lot of Greek mountains are completely barren nowadays, due to over-grazing and fires. Fir wood mountains, such as Ainos and Kitheronas, have essentially died. It is as if you go into a village and all you see is old men and no children. It is 40 years now that not a single fir tree has grown because of goat grazing; as soon as a small plant starts to grow, goats eat it immediately.” He adds: “It has been decades now that in European countries free grazing has been prohibited by law. The only countries allowing it are Greece and Albania”. Consequently, intensive farming is gaining more and more ground, thus avoiding seasonal herd movement. Moreover, another advantage is that animal feed is better controlled, in order to assure its nutritional value and vets have more opportunities to check the animals. Breeding centers are relatively close to urban centers (as opposed to nomadic pastoralism) and this facilitates transportation and marketing of the products. In spite of the fact that in both animal husbandry and farming there is a reduction of people involved in these activities, production is increasing. The reason is mechanization of production that makes the whole activity less labour intensive. Animal farming parks In an attempt to reconstruct the country’s farming sector and promote farmers’ entrepreneurial spirit the government is considering a new, flexible and innovative institutional framework that will encourage the creation of animal farming parks. Animal breeders will be given strong incentives to establish their businesses in these parks, benefiting form the whole infrastructure. These zones have been designed so that infrastructure satisfies the farmers’ needs and specific land plots are given to each one of them. The whole study takes into account the number of animals that these farms can accommodate as well as the relevant density quotient. Animal farmers have multiple benefits from such schemes. First of all farmer’s income is improved and mountain regions manage to retain their population. From an environmental point of view, the whole environment benefits as pastures become more productive and suffer less damage, landscape is preserved, dairy products have a better quality and animal breeders enjoy better living conditions. Indeed, their self- esteem soars as they consider themselves as businessmen and organize their production accordingly. Training in order to modernize production methods is of essential value as well. • Milk production and harvesting Traditional animal farming is based on experience of many centuries, the only real difference being that milk processing does not a place next to the sheep barn but in specially designed dairy installations, where traditional cheese making methods are still preserved, but in a modern context of health and security standards, as they have been established by EU legislation. Milking is done either manually or with a milking machine. If it is done manually then the number of animals that a farmer can milk cannot surpass 70 – 100 per hour. On the contrary, when a milking machine is used then numbers exceed 150 animals per hour, while milk is of better quality, provided of course that standards are followed. However, such an installation is quite expensive, that is why the number of animals to be milked should exceed 150 per hour and the average annual production should be over 150kg per head. Milking machines can easily be installed in mountainous animal farms, so that animal breeders can cope better with bigger herds and a dwindling available labour force. Naturally, their living conditions benefit considerably from the mechanization of production and milk of better quality, complying with all standards, is an added value. Indeed, the produced milk does not come into contact with human hands, as it is automatically transported to special storage vats. Cheese production has been proven an efficient way for the exploitation of milk from indigenous small ruminants’ breeds, since the ancient years. It is well known that ewe’s milk is the most appropriate milk kind for cheese making, due to its high casein and fat content. This is especially true for indigenous ewe breeds. Also the composition of goat’s milk from indigenous Greek breeds has a remarkable high fat and casein content. In fact most of Greek cheese varieties are produced from mixtures of ewe’s and goat’s milk. The latter being about 20-30% of the cheese/milk mixture. The production of milk and dairy food is of major economic importance in Greece, although the quantities of milk originating from ewes and goats are highly seasonal. In 2008, about 1.890.000t of milk were produced in the country, 37% of which was ewe’s and 22% was goat’s milk. Therefore, annual small ruminants’ milk production is more than 100 kilos per habitant, derived mainly from autochthonous breeds of animals. Apart from liquid milk for human consumption, the major dairy products produced in the country are yogurt and cheese. In fact, more than 80% of small ruminants’ milk is used for cheese production. The 2/3 of the total cheese production, estimated to about 185.000 t in 2008, were made from ewe’s or goat’s milk, and about 50% was Feta cheese. • Cheese manufacturing Cheese making in Greece has a centuries old tradition. The Greek word “tyros” (cheese) appears on Linear B inscriptions. Diodorus Sicilius (1rst century BC), the Greek historian from Sicily, wrote that Aristeus, son of Apollo and grandson of Zeus, who had learnt the art of cheese making from his nannies, the nymphs, was sent by the gods at Olympus mountain to teach the Greeks how to make cheese. Given the value of cheese as a food, it is not surprising that ancient Greeks considered cheese as a divine invention and gift. Homer in his Odyssey describes succinctly the shepherd and cheese maker Polyphemus of the 12th century BC, giving a full description of cheese making that archaeological excavation has proved to be valid in the Aegean islands. Sheep and goat sheds are found all over the Aegean islands, from North Aegean to Crete, in the south. They are given different names, according to the local dialect, but in terms of functional characteristics they present a lot of similarities. A characteristic example is the Cretan “metato”, a combination of seasonal dwelling and barn, where milk production would take place in situ. On the Nida plateau, on the high mountain of Psiloritis, there are several such buildings, dry stone walls and dome, testimonies of an ancient construction tradition. Sometimes they form whole complexes with additional barns. The etymological origin of the word is probably Latin, as “Metatum” meant military dwelling.