Cheese grading. Mechanical properties compared with quality assessed subjectively

An experiment is described in which ratings on some 200 cheese made on 31 different days were rated for firmness, quality, springiness and crumbliness, both when 2 weeks and 8 weeks old. Some of the relationships between the ratings are discussed, in particular the ratings for firmness and quality. By means of the firmness ratings made on the cheese at 2 weeks, twenty-eight cheese out of 211 could have been screened off, and of these twenty-eight, nine were subsequently seriously down-graded for quality. Only two cheese which were not screened off developed unsatisfactorily to the same degree. Individual differences between judges are noted, especially with regard to quality. The cheese-maker considers the cheese to be about 1 point higher in quality (on a 7-point scale) than the remaining judges. One judge who criticizes adversely about three times as many cheese as the remainder of the judges also down-grades about six batches of cheese which are not down-graded by the remaining judges.