Elevating artisan cheesemaking: DSM-Firmenich’s advanced Dairy Safe Solution

Leading nutrition, health, and beauty developer dsm-firmenich introduces four new Dairy Safe culture cycles. For premium semi-hard, hard, and continental-style cheese varieties, these all-in-one, label-friendly solutions provide guaranteed bio-protection through increased phage robustness, increased temperature resistance, regulated eye formation, steady acidification, and improved flavour development.

There is growing pressure on cheese producers to produce more cheese without the use of preservatives, which must be disclosed on ingredient labels. Given that Americans consider a food to be safe when it is labelled as “natural,” “organic,” or “healthy,” and that 67% of European consumers avoid foods that contain unfamiliar ingredients, cheesemakers are well aware of the need to reduce additives; in fact, 10% of all cheese launches now carry a “additive-free” claim (Mintel, 2025). The new Dairy Safe cultures from dsm-firmenich are made to allow for formulation without additives, delectable flavours, and spoiling prevention.

By introducing carefully selected culture strains that offer extra strains per rotation for enhanced phage robustness, dsm-firmenich gives cheesemakers a label-friendly way to protect against spoilage and costly downgrades. Unlike other common preservation methods like lysozyme and nitrate, Dairy Safe cultures support label-friendly cheese production, are non-dairy allergen free, work across various milk varieties, and enable a high-value whey output.

The newly launched strains are even more temperature robust than the previous generation, meaning they accommodate the production of a greater variety of cheese types. Alongside assured bio-protection, the new cultures deliver more consistent acidification, reliable gas production for uniform and attractive eye formation, faster flavour development, and enhanced overall flavour intensity. Together, these advances give cheesemakers greater processing control, reduce the risk of costly downgrades, and make it easier to deliver label-friendly ingredient lists.

Dairy Safe cultures contain the unique combination of both nisin-producing strains as well as nisin-immune strains with the newly launched rotations producing a higher concentration of nisin than any other solutions on the market. The nisin-producing and acidifying Lactococcus lactis strains effectively prevent butyric acid fermentation and inactivate other gram-positive spoilage bacteria such as Clostridia tyrobutyricum, which prevents late blowing, and the formation of slits and cracks. The nisin-immune starter culture strains ensure consistent acidification and taste with a similar performance to standard direct-to-vat starter cultures. Dairy Safe cultures come in two taste directions—buttery savoury or sweet bouillon—and are suitable for use with cow, goat, or sheep milk and support organic claims.

Pim van Hee, global business director cheese cultures at dsm-firmenich says: “Spoilage can be devastating to cheesemakers—for quality and profitability. That’s why we set out to develop a new generation of all-in-one protective cultures that give cheese producers complete peace of mind that they are protecting their product, their brand, and profitability with a single label-friendly solution. Whether you’re producing cheese for supermarkets or artisanal eateries, it’s our mission to help you deliver excellent cheese, every time.”

Evandro Oliveira de Souza, global senior vice president at dsm-firmenich adds: “At dsm-firmenich, we are committed to leading the way in cultures for cheese making by constantly innovating and staying 100% focused on the success of our customers. With Dairy Safe, we are proud to offer solutions that not only protect and enhance cheese quality but also help our partners respond to evolving consumer expectations and thrive in a competitive market.”