[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 21, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 21CFR133.118]

[Page 315-316]
 
                        TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS
 
CHAPTER I--FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN 
                           SERVICES--CONTINUED
 
PART 133--CHEESES AND RELATED CHEESE PRODUCTS--Table of Contents
 
  Subpart B--Requirements for Specific Standardized Cheese and Related 
                                Products
 
Sec. 133.118  Colby cheese.

    (a) Colby cheese is the food prepared from milk and other 
ingredients specified in this section, by the procedure set forth in 
paragraph (b) of this section, or by another procedure which produces a 
finished cheese having the same physical and chemical properties as the 
cheese produced when the procedure set forth in paragraph (b) of this 
section is used. It contains not more than 40 percent of moisture, and 
its solids contain not less than 50 percent of milkfat, as determined by 
the methods prescribed in Sec. 133.5 (a), (b), and (d). If the milk used 
is not pasteurized, the cheese so made is cured at a temperature of not 
less than 35  deg.F for not less than 60 days.
    (b) Milk, which may be pasteurized or clarified or both, and which 
may be warmed, is subjected to the action of harmless lactic-acid-
producing bacteria, present in such milk or added thereto. Harmless 
artificial coloring may be added. Sufficient rennet, or other safe and 
suitable milk-clotting enzyme that produces equivalent curd

[[Page 316]]

formation, or both, with or without purified calcium chloride in a 
quantity not more than 0.02 percent (calculated as anhydrous calcium 
chloride) of the weight of the milk, is added to set the milk to a 
semisolid mass. The mass is so cut, stirred, and heated with continued 
stirring, as to promote and regulate the separation of whey and curd. A 
part of the whey is drained off, and the curd is cooled by adding water, 
the stirring being continued so as to prevent the pieces of curd from 
matting. The curd is drained, salted, stirred, further drained, and 
pressed into forms. A harmless preparation of enzymes of animal or plant 
origin capable of aiding in the curing or development of flavor of colby 
cheese may be added during the procedure, in such quantity that the 
weight of the solids of such preparation is not more than 0.1 percent of 
the weight of the milk used.
    (c) For the purposes of this section:
    (1) The word ``milk'' means cow's milk, which may be adjusted by 
separating part of the fat therefrom or by adding thereto one or more of 
the following: Cream, skim milk, concentrated skim milk, nonfat dry 
milk, water, in a quantity sufficient to reconstitute any concentrated 
skim milk or nonfat dry milk used.
    (2) Milk shall be deemed to have been pasteurized if it has been 
held at a temperature of not less than 143  deg.F for a period of not 
less than 30 minutes, or for a time and at a temperature equivalent 
thereto in phosphatase destruction. Colby cheese shall be deemed not to 
have been made from pasteurized milk if 0.25 gram shows a phenol 
equivalent of more than 3 micrograms when tested by the method 
prescribed in Sec. 133.5(c).
    (3) During the cheesemaking process the milk may be treated with 
hydrogen peroxide/catalase as provided in Sec. 133.113(a)(3).
    (d)(1) Colby cheese in the form of slices or cuts may have added to 
it a clear aqueous solution prepared by condensing or precipitating wood 
smoke in water.
    (2) Colby cheese in the form of slices or cuts in consumer-sized 
packages may contain an optional mold-inhibiting ingredient consisting 
of sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium sorbate, or any combination of 
two or more of these, in an amount not to exceed 0.3 percent by weight 
calculated as sorbic acid.
    (e)(1) If colby cheese has added to it a clear aqueous solution 
prepared by condensing or precipitating wood smoke in water as provided 
in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, the name of the food is immediately 
followed by the words ``with added smoke flavoring'' with all words in 
this phrase of the same type size, style, and color without intervening 
written, printed, or graphic matter.
    (2) If colby cheese in sliced or cut form contains an optional mold-
inhibiting ingredient as specified in paragraph (d)(2) of this section, 
the label shall bear the statement ``______ added to retard mold 
growth'' or ``______ added as a preservative'', the blank being filled 
in with the common name or names of the mold-inhibiting ingredient or 
ingredients used.
    (3) Wherever the name of the food appears on the label so 
conspicuously as to be easily seen under customary conditions of 
purchase, the statement specified in paragraph (e)(2) of this section, 
showing the optional ingredient used, shall immediately and 
conspicuously precede or follow such name, without intervening written, 
printed, or graphic matter except for the statement ``with added smoke 
flavoring,'' as set forth in paragraph (e)(1) of this section.
    (f) Each of the ingredients used in the food shall be declared on 
the label as required by the applicable sections of parts 101 and 130 of 
this chapter, except that enzymes of animal, plant, or microbial origin 
may be declared as ``enzymes''.

[42 FR 14366, Mar. 15, 1977, as amended at 49 FR 10093, Mar. 19, 1984; 
58 FR 2892, Jan. 6, 1993]