Traditional white brined cheese as a delivery vehicle for probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus Casei

Abstract

The traditional white brined cow cheese was tested as a delivery vehicle for probiotic bacteria. The cheese was manufactured from pasteurized cow's milk at an industrial scale, at the same time in three batches, each of 1000 liters milk. Two different initial concentrations of the probiotic bacterium Lactoba-cillus casei (3.86·107 and 5.81·107cfu g-1) were used. The cheese had relatively short period of ripening (40 days), large percentage of fat (~52% d.m.) and suitable pH values (~4.5) for the survival of probiot-ics. At the end of the ripening, the probiotic counts were 1.74·108 and 3.72·108cfu g-1, respectively. There was no significant difference in most of the quality parameters at the p < 0.05 level between the two pro-biotic cheeses. Nitrogen fractions and fat content were the key components influencing the overall quality of the cheese samples. The principal component analysis of the sensory attributes demonstrated that the flavor contributed the most to the overall acceptance of all types of cheeses.