(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 §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 °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 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 °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 §133.5(c).

(3) During the cheesemaking process the milk may be treated with hydrogen peroxide/catalase as provided in §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]