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Welcome to Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc.
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Milk Procurement
Milk Procurement is the first step in the cheese
making process. Without quality producers the quality of our cheese would
decrease dramatically. Valley Queen uses quad-axle trucks to maximize
transportation, flexibility and efficiency. Large tankers are used to haul milk
from the larger dairies. This tanker is also used to ship whey products to other
plants for further processing. Valley Queen receives more than 2 million pounds
of milk each day from area dairy producers.
Quality Starts at the farm
Milk Hauling and Unloading
Cheese Production
Milk in its natural state is 87% water. Evaporators are used to remove water
from the milk prior to cheese making. This yields milk with a higher solids
content which allows for greater cheese making efficiency.
Production Monitoring
The control room allows monitoring and control of many
processes in the plant which includes monitoring flow rates, controlling the
evaporating process and equipment cleaning.
Cheese Vats
Once the milk is filtered and ready for the cheese making process the milk is
pumped into a cheese vat. this is where milk is cooked, starter bacteria is
added and coloring. During this process the filtered milk is turned into curds.
Drain Tables
In this phase, the curds and whey are transferred onto the drain tables where
the whey is separated from the curd. An agitator stirs the curd which
facilitates whey drainage and keeps the curd size uniform. Uniform curd is
desirable to maximize whey drainage. During this phase, salt is added to the
cheese curd.
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