Draining of curd is a crucial step to control the water concentration of cheese during their manufacture. Many chemical and physical factors are known to modify the mechanisms involved in the shrinkage of the curd and on the rate of syneresis. To monitor continuously these two mechanisms, NMR and MRI techniques are very suitable. They provide information about the kinetic of the mass transfer mechanism and the curd heterogeneity. The aim of this work was to study quantitatively the influence of milk components concentration on curd after two main unit operations where the water transfer takes place : the curd syneresis as well as the freezing/thawing steps. The MRI measurements were done with low field imaging system (Open Siemens, 0.2T) at constant temperature ( 20°C). A 24 echoes sequence (CPMG) was used to T2 parametric image. A non-magnetic device was used to reproduce industrial dairy mould. Curds were obtained with reconstituted milk and milk protein dispersions at various pH, lactose, whey protein (WP), casein micelles and CaCl2 concentrations. An experimental plan was design to study the effect of the formulation. After drainage, the curd were frozen at -30°C and thawed at 4°C. Curds obtained from protein dispersions at pH 6.2 and without WP tended to be strongly contracted, with many whey pockets inside. In the opposite, other protein dispersions, milk included, gave curds fairly contracted, with no whey pockets but with extended water gradients. These gradients were not clearly observed in highly contracted curds, except at the very vicinity of the whey pockets. The results obtained for freeze-thawed curds were consistent with these previous results. Damages caused by freezing were more pronounced in low contracted curds. Such modification was characterised by curd depression, water losses and disappearance of water gradients inside the curd. This study showed a real influence of milk formulation on curd deformation and water distribution after syneresis and after freezing. It could be extended to other experiments considering various technological aspects on drainage and curd freezing.