Mascarpone Cheese

Trade grades are set primarily by fat content and by pack format. Traditional full fat mascarpone runs 40 to 50 percent fat in the product, made from cream standardised at 30 to 40 percent fat, while reduced fat versions in the high twenties or low thirties are produced for industrial dessert use and behave differently in a mix. Industrial grades sold in 2 kilogram, 5 kilogram or 10 kilogram tubs and in bag in box formats are frozen or deep chilled for bakery and dessert manufacturing, against retail tubs for the consumer trade.

The other axis is formulation. Plain mascarpone contains only cream, acid and sometimes salt, whereas stabilised versions carry hydrocolloids or milk protein to control syneresis through freezing and thawing or through a long chilled shelf life. Ultra high temperature treated and aseptically filled grades trade shorter texture for a shelf life measured in months. Italian producers also distinguish between mascarpone made from cow cream alone and versions blended for a specific fat profile, and buyers specify pH, since it decides both flavour and keeping quality.

In the United States mascarpone is not among the cheeses with a federal standard of identity, so it is marketed as an unstandardised cheese labelled by its common name with a full ingredient declaration. It is nonetheless a dairy product subject to the pasteurised milk ordinance framework applied to grade A products where that applies, to the preventive controls rules for human food, and to the requirement that cheese be made from pasteurised milk or cream unless it meets the sixty day ageing provision, which a fresh cheese cannot. Milk is a major food allergen under the Food Allergen Labelling and Consumer Protection Act and must be declared.

In the European Union mascarpone is a fresh cheese covered by the general hygiene rules for products of animal origin, with the microbiological criteria for ready to eat foods, including the Listeria monocytogenes criterion, set out in Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005. It holds no protected designation of origin, so the name may be used across the market, although Italian national practice defines the composition in trade terms. Milk appears in Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 and must be emphasised in the ingredient list. Codex maintains a general standard for cheese and a standard for unripened cheese including fresh cheese, which set out composition and labelling principles for the category, and the acidifying agents used are permitted additives within that framework.