Caciocavallo siciliano cheese is the food prepared from cow's milk or sheep's milk or goat's milk or mixtures of two or all of these 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 has a stringy texture, and is made in oblong shapes. It contains not more than 40 percent of moisture, and its solids contain not less than 42 percent milkfat as determined by the methods prescribed in § 133.5 (a), (b), and (d). It is cured for not less than 90 days at a temperature of not less than 35 °F.

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 blue or green coloring in a quantity which neutralizes any natural yellow coloring in the curd may be added. Sufficient rennet, rennet paste, extract of rennet paste, or other safe and suitable milk-clotting enzyme that produces equivalent curd formation, singly or in any combination (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 cut, stirred, and heated so as to promote and regulate the separation of whey from curd. The whey is drained off, and the curd is removed to another vat containing hot whey, in which it is soaked for several hours. This whey is withdrawn, the curd is allowed to mat, and is cut into blocks. These are washed in hot whey until the desired elasticity is obtained. The curd is removed from the vat, drained, pressed into oblong forms, dried, and salted in brine, and cured. It may be paraffined. A harmless preparation of enzymes of animal or plant origin capable of aiding in the curing or development of flavor of caciocavallo siciliano 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.

For the purposes of this section, the word “milk” means cow's milk or goat's milk or sheep's milk or mixtures of two or all of these. Such milk may be adjusted by separating part of the fat therefrom or (in the case of cow's milk) by adding one or more of the following: Cream, skim milk, concentrated skim milk, nonfat dry milk; (in the case of goat's milk) the corresponding products from goat's milk; (in the case of sheep's milk) the corresponding products from sheep's milk; water in a quantity sufficient to reconstitute any such concentrated or dried products used.

Such milk may be bleached by the use of benzoyl peroxide or a mixture of benzoyl peroxide with potassium alum, calcium sulfate, and magnesium carbonate; but the weight of the benzoyl peroxide is not more than 0.002 percent of the weight of the milk bleached, and the weight of the potassium alum, calcium sulfate, and magnesium carbonate, singly or combined, is not more than six times the weight of the benzoyl peroxide used. If milk is bleached in this manner, sufficient vitamin A is added to the curd to compensate for the vitamin A or its precursors destroyed in the bleaching process, and artificial coloring is not used.

Safe and suitable antimycotic agent(s), the cumulative levels of which shall not exceed current good manufacturing practice, may be added to the cheese during the kneading and stretching process and/or applied to the surface of the cheese.

When caciocavallo siciliano cheese is made solely from cow's milk, the name of such cheese is “Caciocavallo siciliano cheese”. When made from sheep's milk or goat's milk or mixtures of these, or one or both of these with cow's milk, the name is followed by the words “made from ___”, the blank being filled in with the name or names of the milks used, in order of predominance by weight.

Label declaration. 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”.