Application de méthodes d'analyse statistique univariée et multivariée à l'étude parallèle de critères chimiques, biochimiques, rhéologiques, microbiologiques et sensoriels du fromage d'emmental au moment de sa taxation Partie I: Analyse de quelques profils de distribution

Abstract

This multidisciplinary study of Swiss Emmental cheese relates values determined by chemical, biochemical, rheological, and bacteriological analyses to those obtained by sensoric analysis of taste as well as tactile and visual properties. To this effect, 50 four-months-old Emmental loaves of different qualities were chosen at their taxation and submitted to 165 analyses; six of these analyses were sensoric evaluations. The instrumental analyses included quantitative determination of water, fat, salt, volatile fatty acids, lactic acid (L and D), nitrogen fractions (TN, WSN, NPN), ammonia, free amino acids, biogenic amines, one peptide, and volatile components. The latter were analyzed with two different methods. Moreover, two microbiological analyses were carried out (non-lactic-acid bacteria and streptococci of group D), four rheological measurements (penetration depth, stress at 33% deformation, compression rate and stress at peak stress point) and determination of three colour components according to Hunter. The sensoric taste analysis permitted us to evaluate the flavour development, the typical character and the quality of the cheese. The tactile analysis enabled us to characterize the texture, structure, and consistency and the visual evaluation to examine the eyes of the cheese body. The first part of this paper divided into 3 parts deals with univariate analysis of distribution profiles of some characteristic measurable variables for Swiss Emmental cheese.