Cheese, the nature's wonder food, is a highly nutritious food with good keeping quality, enriched pre-digested protein with fat, calcium, phosphorus, fat soluble vitamins, available in a concentrated form. Cheese, the most important category of fermented foods, has been reported to have therapeutic, anticholesterolemic, anticaricinogenic and anticariogenic properties beyond their basic nutritive value. It has, therefore, been truly classified as a value added product and is consumed in various other forms like dietetic foods, snacks, fast foods, etc. To consumers it provides good nutrition, variety, convenience for use, portability, food safety and novelty of flavour and texture. It is one of the fastest-growing markets among dairy products and about 40% of the total world milk production is converted into cheese. There has been an increase in the cheese consumption worldwide, the annual growth rate being 3%. In India, cheese production is estimated to be growing at the rate of 10-12% in terms of volume per year and 16-17% per year in terms of value.
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