Testing a cost-affordable microfiltration method to prevent eye formation in cheeses

GIMÉNEZ P; BERGAMINI C; PERALTA G.H.; GEORGE G; PEROTTI C; HYNES E

JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2023

0145-8876

The naturally occurring microparticles in the cheesemilk are essential for the eye formationin cheeses because they act as eye nuclei. So, their elimination could be astrategy to avoid the eye formation in cheese varieties in which the eyes are considereda defect. The objective of this work was to test the efficiency of a costaffordablemethod, microfiltration through filter bag with 1 μm pore size, for eliminatingmicroparticles from the cheesemilk and so to prevent the undesirable eye formation.For that, cheesemilk was microfiltrated and used to make experimental andcontrol Swiss-type cheeses with and without the addition of hay microparticles,respectively. These microparticles were added to act as eye nuclei and to promotethe eye formation in experimental cheeses, while the absence of microparticles incontrol cheeses should avoid the eye development. Cheeses were ripened (60 days)in adequate successive steps to allow the gas production by the propionic bacteriaincluded in the starter. Gross composition, pH, and content of carbohydrates andorganic acids including propionate were the same in both treatments indicating thatsimilar amounts of CO2 were produced. Despite microfiltration of the milk, controlcheeses developed a considerable number of eyes, as well as experimental cheeses,although the eye volume was higher in the last ones. So, the microfiltration with a filterbag was not efficient to prevent eye formation, probably because it did not eliminateall the native nuclei, and therefore is not suitable to our objective.