‘Say Cheese’@ Go Cheese Factory

Cheesy Teri Taste … Cheesy Tera Appetite, tu ha kar ya na kar tu hai humara Cheese!!! I’m visiting the Go Cheese Factory tomorrow to be a part of the Cheese World
‪#‎GoCheeseIndia‬, ‪#‎GoCheeseWorld‬, ‪#‎FeminaIndia‬. This was my post before visiting the factory, so you can guess the energy and excitement levels.

We (bunch of 15 bloggers) started from the Times Of India (TOI) office at 10.30am and reached the GoCheeseFactory at 12.30pm. We were very well greeted by the staff and Ajay (Sales Head, GoCheese) took us through the journey of the company from its inception.

How it started?

The Company Parag Milk Foods started its operation in 1992 with traditional products like Paneer, Gowardhan Ghee. Later on, it expanded to new gen products which we can see now i.e. flavoured milk. Some snaps about the wide range of products which they cater to:

An interesting thing which Mr. Ajay said that the name ‘GoCheese’ has come from the hindi word Gow (Cow). They take pride as all the products in the factory are made up of cow milk only. After Amul, Parag Milk Foods is the only company to have PAN India distribution average.
Parag is known for cow ghee, fruit yoghurt and has won the most trusted brand of the year award.
We were told about the types of cheese, some of their achievements which are: Innovation award for ‘Cheese cubes’, Winning product for ‘ Pride of Cows’ and best children`s dairy products award.

We then visited the Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farms (15-20 mins distance from the factory). Here we saw the Brand Ambassadors of the company (Cows) and were explained about the milking process. There are 1200 HF cows, the most pleasant surprise was the automated milking process. All the cows gather at the Assembly point the process is as follows:

Cleaning of the Cows
Checking/ Killing of micro-organisms
Production of milk
Checking the quality of milk

It takes 4mins for the milk to come out, 60 sec initially is the stimulation period. There is a tag on every cow which reads about her birth date, weight. The milking process is done three times a day- 8am, 1 & 4pm. It all depends on the condition of the cows, pregnant ones do it once-twice a day. The temperature of the chamber is 23-28 degree Celsius. Fans, sprinklers are provided to comfort them. If the cow is chewing the fodder given, it states that she is in a happy state. 54 liters is the maximum milk given by a cow in a day.

We saw a small cute newly born calf near the farm, she was scared seeing so many human-beings around her

It was lunch time, after having lunch and interacting with fellow bloggers from Pune & Mumbai we went to see the Cheese Factory. Cheese was actually invented by the Romans and the story goes something like this- During those times they would go for wars riding on the horses, they would carry milk in a small pouch made of animal leather-Rennet. During one of their travels the milk in the pouch got mixed with the rennet and it tasted differently- that’s how Cheese was formed, this states that Cheese is a complete vegetarian product.

Next was description about the ‘Fantastic Five’i.e. Types of Cheese – Paneer (Cottage Cheese), Mozzarella (Semi-liquid), Cheddar(older the better) , Vintage Cheese(best with wine) & Gouda.

It was time to see the process ourselves, we were given aprons, caps, masks, inside the plant there were some instructions- no watches, earrings, rings, bangles, wallets, and most importantly no photographs to be taken. As soon as we entered, we were told to step in a machine which cleaned our shoes, and hands. We saw the formation of all types of cheese in huge machines and it was so difficult to resist the temptation of not having them. Finally, it was time for ‘Cheese Tasting’ where all kinds of cheese were arranged and they were just yum!