Evaluation of the physicochemical properties of dehydrated artisanal cheese during storage

Abstract

Artisanal fresh cheese is a type of cheese from Hispanic origin and one of the most consumed; however, its shelf life is short due to of its pH is close to neutrality, high aw and low salt content. The fluidized bed drying was employed as an efficient alternative to fresh cheese; however, in order to achieve the desired shelf life in a product, it is necessary to study different packaging and storage conditions that will depend on the specific characteristics of the product. A design of factorial experiments 23 was adopted, the storage study was carried out for 90 days, studying two qualitative variables: type of packaging and type of atmosphere in the packaging, and one quantitative variable: drying temperature. Keywords: Dehydrated cheese; storage; water activity; type of packing.