“When you’re talking 170 million pizzas, it’s clear our cheese has captured the taste buds of Australians and international markets alike — all from Fonterra’s manufacturing site in Stanhope.”

To recognise International Cheese Pizza Day on September 5, Fonterra’s expert cheesemakers shared the process behind Australia’s favourite mozzarella.

Fonterra quality assurance technician James Harris has been testing cheese at Stanhope for more than 50 years.

He said he was part of a team responsible for testing tonnes of cheese every day to ensure only the highest quality makes it into the mouths of Australians.

“Behind every block of cheese that is made at Fonterra’s Stanhope site, there is a dedicated team of cheese graders who test the cheese on a range of attributes from taste, aroma, flavour, and texture,” Mr Harris said.

“Like a wine judge, they do not swallow the product — they just run it over their tastebuds and do physical checks and assess the cheese for a range of parameters they are trained to detect, before spitting it out.”

As the most popular cheese used on pizza, Fonterra quality manager Shayna Street said mozzarella was known for its stretch as much as its taste.

“The Stanhope site is fitted with a test kitchen and commercial pizza ovens to make sure only the best cheese leaves the factory,” she said.

“When we test mozzarella, we go through a further process of checking its meltability, blistering and stretch.

“Everyone knows mozzarella for its distinctive stretch, so it’s equally important that we get the experience of eating mozzarella to the same standard as its taste.”

Fonterra’s Stanhope operations have been producing quality dairy foods for more than 100 years, collecting milk from around 110 northern Victorian farmers.