Development of Reduced-Fat, Reduced-Sodium Semi-Hard Sheep Milk Cheese

Influence of Salting and Ripening Conditions on the Characteristics of a Reduced-Fat, Semi-Hard, Sheep Milk Cheese

This study aimed to assess the effect of salting and ripening conditions on the features of sheep milk, reduced-fat, semi-hard cheese. Eight groups of cheese, with an average fat content of ≅10.5%, moisture on non-fat substances (MNFS) ≅ 56%, a protein-to-fat ratio of 2.9 and pH 5.1, were manufactured and analyzed throughout ripening. The experimental factors were the salting method (brine- or dry-salting), the salt content (control- and reduced-salt) and the ripening temperature sequence (11 or 18 °C at the 3rd and 4th week). Brine-salted cheese exhibited significantly more adequate (p < 0.05) textural and organoleptic characteristics compared to its dry-salted counterpart, i.e., lower hardness, gumminess and adhesiveness, with higher lightness and flavor scores. The mean salt reduction from 2.1 to 1.6% exhibited significant effects (p < 0.05), i.e., increased moisture and MNFS, decreased hardness, gumminess, chewiness and adhesiveness, and increased lightness and meltability of cheese without affecting the microbiological stability or impairing the organoleptic parameters. Ripening at 18 °C at weeks 3-4 significantly increased (p < 0.05) proteolysis and concentrations of lactic and citric acid without affecting meltability, textural or organoleptic features. In conclusion, brine-salting, salt reduction by 20% and the elevation of temperature at a particular ripening period improved the characteristics of this type of reduced-fat sheep milk cheese.

Multiscale Approach to Dairy Products Design

Dairy products are among the most popular nutritious foods in the world. Understanding the relationship between the composition, process, and structural properties at different scales (molecular, microscopic, and macroscopic) is fundamental to designing dairy products. This review highlights the need to analyze this relationship from different scales as an essential step during product design through a multiscale approach.

Sources, purification, immobilization and industrial applications of microbial lipases: An overview

Microbial lipase is looking for better attention with the fast growth of enzyme proficiency and other benefits like easy, cost-effective, and reliable manufacturing. Immobilized enzymes can be used repetitively and are incapable to catalyze the reactions in the system continuously. Hydrophobic supports are utilized to immobilize enzymes when the ionic strength is low. This approach allows for the immobilization, purification, stability, and hyperactivation of lipases in a single step. The diffusion of the substrate is more advantageous on hydrophobic supports than on hydrophilic supports in the carrier. These approaches are critical to the immobilization performance of the enzyme. For enzyme immobilization, synthesis provides a higher pH value as well as greater heat stability. Using a mixture of immobilization methods, the binding force between enzymes and the support rises, reducing enzyme leakage. Lipase adsorption produces interfacial activation when it is immobilized on hydrophobic support. As a result, in the immobilization process, this procedure is primarily used for a variety of industrial applications. Microbial sources, immobilization techniques, and industrial applications in the fields of food, flavor, detergent, paper and pulp, pharmaceuticals, biodiesel, derivatives of esters and amino groups, agrochemicals, biosensor applications, cosmetics, perfumery, and bioremediation are all discussed in this review.

Effect of Salt Content Reduction on Food Processing Technology

Higher salt intake is associated with the risk of cardiovascular and kidney diseases, hypertension and gastric cancer. Salt intake reduction represents an effective way to improve people’s health, either by the right choice of food or by a reduction of added salt. Salt substitutes are often used and also herb homogenates are treated by high pressure technology. Salt reduction significantly influences the shelf life, texture, pH, taste, and aroma of cheese. The composition of emulsifying salts or starter cultures must be modified to enact changes in microbial diversity, protease activity and the ripening process. The texture becomes softer and aroma atypical. In bakery products, a salt reduction of only 20–30% is acceptable. Water absorption, dough development, length and intensity of kneading and stability of dough are changed. Gluten development and its viscoelastic properties are affected. The salt reduction promotes yeast growth and CO₂ production. Specific volume and crust colour intensity decreased, and the crumb porosity changed. In meat products, salt provides flavour, texture, and shelf life, and water activity increases. In this case, myofibrillar proteins’ solubility, water binding activity and colour intensity changes were found. The composition of curing nitrite salt mixtures and starter cultures must be modified.

How does milk fat replacement influence cheese analogue microstructure, rheology, and texture profile?

Over the past few years, the market for cheese substitutes has been growing on account of the simple and cost-effective production of these cheese-like products. It is well established that the functional properties of cheeses are directly related to their composition. Therefore, the variation of fat in cheese substitutes certainly affects the characteristics of the cheeses. The purpose of this review was to summarize the latest research on the effects of milk fat replacement with vegetable oils on the rheological, textural, and microstructural properties of cheese analogues. The findings suggest that the primary effects of modifying fat in cheese analogues are associated with an alteration in the interactions among the components of the protein matrix, which varies because of milk fat extraction. Overall, changes in the functional properties of analogous cheeses will depend on the type of oil, the percentage of fat modification, and the type of cheese produced.

Effect of Ripening in Brine and in a Vacuum on Protein, Fatty Acid and Mineral Profiles, and Antioxidant Potential of Reduced-Fat White Cheese

Research background

Numerous factors affect the ripening of reduced-fat white cheese. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of ripening environment (brine or vacuum plastic bags without brine) on the chemical composition, protein, fatty acid profile and mineral content as well as antioxidant properties of industrially produced reduced-fat white cheese.

Experimental approach

A low-fat white cheese was manufactured on an industrial scale from milk that remained after the production of kajmak and ripened for 60 days at 4 °C after packaging in a polystyrene container with brine containing 6% salt or in vacuum-sealed polyethylene bags. The influence of ripening environment on proteolysis was monitored by the change of soluble nitrogen fractions as well as by sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of tris(hydroxymethyl) aminomethane-HCl extracts of cheese proteins under non-reducing conditions and water-soluble fractions under reducing conditions. An effect that ripening environment had on fatty acid and mineral content was also monitored. The change of antioxidant potential of the investigated cheese during ripening led to the change of iron(II) chelating ability, reducing power and free-radical scavenging activity.

Results and conclusions

The ripening environment differently affected proteolysis, fatty acid composition, mineral profile and antioxidant properties of reduced-fat white cheese. White cheese ripened in brine had more intensive proteolytic changes than the cheese ripened in a vacuum, but also more intensive diffusion processes, especially between the 40th and 60th day of ripening. The brine-ripened cheese had higher values of water-soluble nitrogen content, but lower contents of trichloroacetic acid-soluble and phosphotungstic acid-soluble nitrogen than the vacuum-ripened cheese. Cheese ripened in brine had a lower content of almost all investigated macro- and microelements. After 60 days of ripening, in cheese ripened in brine only myristic (C14:0) and palmitic acid (C16:0) were detected, whereas in the vacuum-ripened cheese C10:0-C16:0 fatty acids dominated. Vacuum-ripened reduced-fat cheese had more favourable reducing power, while white brined reduced-fat cheese had better radical scavenging activity and iron(II) chelating activity.

Novelty and scientific contribution

These results suggest significant influence of ripening conditions (immersion in brine or in vacuum-sealed polyethylene bags) on nutritive and functional properties of reduced-fat white cheese. Ripening in a vacuum has become a useful method for obtaining high-value reduced-fat white cheese.

Quark-Type Cheese: Effect of Fat Content, Homogenization, and Heat Treatment of Cheese Milk

The effect of homogenization and fat reduction in combination with variable heating conditions of cow milk on the characteristics of Quark-type cheese were investigated. The mean composition of full-fat cheeses was 71.96% moisture, 13.95% fat, and 10.31% protein, and that of its reduced-fat counterparts was 73.08%, 10.39%, and 12.84%, respectively. The increase of heat treatment intensity increased moisture retention and improved the mean cheese protein-to-fat ratio from 0.92 to 1. Homogenization increased the moisture and protein retention in cheese, but the effect was less intense for milk treated at 90 °C for 5 min. The extended denaturation of whey proteins resulted in harder, springier, and less cohesive cheese (p < 0.05). Treatment of milk at 90 °C for 5 min resulted in higher residual lactose and citric acid and lower water-soluble nitrogen contents of cheese (p < 0.05); the latter was also true for homogenization (p < 0.05). Storage did not affect the composition and texture but decreased galactose and increased citric acid and soluble nitrogen fractions (p < 0.05). In conclusion, heat treatment conditions of milk that induced a considerable denaturation of β-lactoglobulin and left a considerable amount of native α-lactalbumin was adequate for the manufacture of a "clean-label" Quark-type cheese, whereas homogenization was more effective for full-fat cheese.

Retention of vitamin A after goat milk processing into cheese: a nutritional strategy

The deficiency in micronutrients is a public health problem, principally in lower-middle-income countries. Vitamin A (VA) is considered a micronutrient fundamental to the maintenance and development of different tissues in the organism. Therefore, it is an essential micronutrient in the human diet. In these terms, goat milk is the leading food consumed to provide nutritional support in innumerous lower-middle-income countries. Here our work aimed to produce goat cheese studying strategies to promote the retention of VA. Our experiment design also explores the use of the salting process to evaluate the levels of VA retention. The level of VA in goat cheese was determined using LC-MS/MS analysis. Additionally, the redox status of the goat cheese in terms of lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation was determined. The texture analysis was also evaluated to verify if the redox status and salting process influence the texture profile. The results showed that the salting process during goat cheese production improves the retention of VA in goat cheese. Moreover, the salting process also is related to alterations in the status redox of the goat cheese and texture parameters. Therefore, our results show that goat cheese production can be an alternative to produced dairy derivates with recognized concentrations of VA for human nutrition.

"Cheese: Technology, Compositional, Physical and Biofunctional Properties:" A Special Issue

The objective of the present editorial to critical synopsize articles that make up the Special Issue “Cheese: Technology, Compositional, Physical and Biofunctional Properties.” The published research papers are multidisciplinary studies which refer to some of the most important sub-topics of Cheese Science and Technology. They present the results of experimental studies and analyses that can be further exploited by academia and cheese producers.