While traditional cheesemakers used wood boards to age cheese, modern food safety practices have prompted a closer look at the risks involved. Aging cheese on wood can compromise hygiene due to wood’s porous nature, which makes it susceptible to harboring bacteria, mold and other contaminants. With regulatory concerns and sanitation challenges, Brian Civitello, owner of Mystic Cheese Co. decided to opt for Camshelving® because its non-porous surface offers safer, more consistent results. Civitello explains the three reasons he’s been using Camshelving to age cheese for more than a decade.
1. Modular, Adjustable Design
When Civitello went out on his own 10 years ago, he built the world’s first mobile modular cheese factory in a shipping container. Using Camshelving, he was able to make the most of his 320 sq. ft. space thanks to shared posts and open, connected corners. When he opened their current facility, he remembered the flexibility Camshelving afforded, including the ability to easily adjust the shelves as needs changed.
“We were looking for something that was modular enough to be able to add more shelves, grow as we needed, but also cleanable and food-grade,” said Civitello. “That’s where the Cambro [shelving] steps up above all the other brands; it’s made for direct food contact if you need it to.”
2. Cleanability
While regulations vary by state, Civitello found that in Connecticut, where Mystic Cheese is based, inspectors weren’t thrilled with the idea of wood and proposed processes that would cost him time and money.
“If we were going to use wood, we would need a board cleaner, which is like $25,000, and a lot of extra space to be able to stick the boards that the cheese sit on and clean them; it actually makes the problem of cleaning boards worse because it pushes water way deep into the board and also bacteria,” said Civitello.
In contrast, using Camshelving completely eliminates all the potential problems that come with aging on wood.
“The surface is so smooth and the density of the plastic is really good; it enables us to really cut back our clean time when we need to take a batch out and reset it to get a new batch,” said Civitello.
“The nice thing is it has five pieces per shelf and you can remove them to clean them individually. That helps a lot because oftentimes we’re cleaning two racks of five and there’s cheese below so you can’t take a hose and just wash the whole rack down. You have to actually remove the pieces to a table or a sink, clean them and put them back. So, the flexibility of taking the racks apart for cheese is super helpful.”
Camshelving is made with a smooth, durable composite plastic material. While it looks clean to the untrained eye, Civitello has taken it a step further by using an ATP meter to check for the presence of microbes.
“We test after we clean and so we know things are dead clean, which is how we know [Cambro’s] plastic is super dense because the cheap plastic racks—you can scrub them all day long and there’s still protein residue.”
3. Weight-Bearing
Each ripening rack fits 13 wheels of cheese, which weigh about 17 lbs. apiece. While the entire rack needs to hold a little more than 200 lbs., Camshelving Premium Series has the ability to hold up to a whopping 2,000 lbs. (910 kg) per unit.
“For a small company, we invested a lot into the Cambro racks, but we’ve tried some of the other brands that are a little bit cheaper and we’ve busted them in the warehouse and come into broken shelves because they don’t hold up.”
Mystic Cheese has a 4,000 sq. ft. facility located in Groton, Conn., that is connected to a brewery. Customers are able to enjoy their perfectly aged cheese in popular items like grilled cheese sandwiches 
Click here to learn more about rust and corrosion-free Camshelving.
AUTHOR: ADRIANA COCHRAN IS THE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AT CAMBRO.
