Monitoring Cheddar cheese ripening by chemical indices of proteolysis 1. Determination of free glutamic acid, soluble nitrogen, and liberated amino groups

Combined liquid phase microextraction and fiber-optics-based cuvetteless micro-spectrophotometry for sensitive determination of ammonia in water and food samples by the indophenol reaction

The Berthelot reaction for ammonia is revisited with the aim of miniaturization and addressing interferences as encountered with food and water samples. Headspace single drop microextraction of ammonia in phosphoric acid served to attain selectivity in complex matrices, and liquid-liquid microextraction of red or blue indophenol species into 1-octanol-isooctane (60:40, v/v) resulted into high sensitivity. Fiber-optics-based cuvetteless micro-spectrophotometry has been used for colorimetric determination on microliter volumes of extract. The linear dynamic range, limit of detection and enrichment factor have been found to be 0.2-3 mg kg^-1, 0.14 mg kg^-1 and 38, respectively, measuring red species for milk, cheese and beer (4.9-5.5% error; 4.8-6.3% RSD; n = 5); and 5-400 µg L^-1, 0.4 µg L^-1 and 137, respectively, measuring blue species for water samples (3.3-5.7% error; 3.6-6.8% RSD; n = 5). A plausible reaction scheme has been proposed for nitroprusside catalysis in indophenol reaction.

The range of protein hydrolysis and biogenic amines content in selected acid- and rennet-curd cheeses

The aim of this experiment was to assess the range of proteolysis and biogenic amine content in the selected rennet- and acid-curd cheeses available on the Polish market, randomly chosen for the analyses: three ripened hard with eyes cheeses, three ripened hard smooth cheeses, three ripened soft moulded cheeses, three fresh unripened acid-curd cheeses, three ripened acid-curd cheeses with slimming bacteria-fried, and three ripened acid-curd cheeses with smear bacteria. The results allowed calculating the subsequent indexes and depth of proteolysis. It was found that the acid-curd short ripened cheese (harzer) was characterized by the greatest range of proteolysis and the biogenic amine content in comparison to other rennet- and acid-curd cheeses. In the assessed acid- and rennet-curd cheeses, the dominant amines were as follow, cadaverine, tyramine, and putrescine, with the exception of cheddar in which the histamine was predominant.

Monitoring cheddar cheese ripening by chemical indices of proteolysis. 3. Identification of several high-molecular mass peptides

Two Cheddar cheeses from two different production plants were ripened over 24 weeks at 10 degrees C and then analysed for peptides soluble in citrate buffer at pH 4.6 by reversed-phase (RP)-HPLC. Thirteen peptides with a chain length of between 35 and 65 amino acid residues and molecular masses between 3800 and 7400 were isolated and assigned to the corresponding amino acid sequences of the casein fractions via Edman degradation and amino acid composition. All peptides were fragments of the region K29-S96 of beta-casein A1 and A2, and eleven of them had M93 as the C-terminal. The amounts and proportions of these peptides varied differently during ripening of the two cheeses, so they may be suitable markers for characterizing the stage of ripening.