Composition of Kashkaval cheese manufactured from different levels of somatic cell counts in sheep milk

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of somatic cell count (SCC) on the composition of Kashkaval cheese. Kashkaval cheese samples were produced from three different batches of sheep milk with low (610 000 cells/ml), medium (770 000 cells/ml), and high (1 310 000 cells/ml) SCC, respectively. The main chemical parameters, such as pH, titratable acidity, moisture content, fat content in the dry matter, protein content, sodium chloride content, and microbiological parameters (lactic acid bacteria count, pathogenic microorganisms, coliforms, psychrotrophic, yeasts and molds) were studied during the ripening and storage periods. No statistically significant (P<0.05) changes were found in the values of the chemical parameters during the ripening period. At the beginning of ripening, the total lactic acid bacteria count for all cheese samples was about 4.1 log cfu/g, then increased to 6.2 log cfu/g (at 60 days of ripening) for test samples. The data collected in this study showed a slight decrease in pH values and a gradual increase in the titratable acidity, which was an indication for retarded fermentation during storage at low temperature. The lactic acid bacteria showed good survival, but higher sensitivity was observed in Lactobacillus spp. in comparison with Streptococcus spp.