Microbiological and Chemical Properties of Cheese Helva Produced in Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the microbiological and chemical properties of Cheese helva, one of the traditional cheeses varieties produced in Turkey, was studied. This cheese is called Cheese helva since it is produced from wheat flour and milk cream. Samples were randomly collected from different villages in the Erzurum province of Turkey. The average of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria (TAMB), yeast and mould, yeast, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), proteolytic bacteria, and lipolytic bacteria were determined 4.9 × 10 7 , 6.4 × 10 4 , 3.5 × 10 3 , 7.6 × 10 6 , 4.6 × 10 3 , and 8.6 × 10 3 cfu/g, respectively. 44.44% of the Cheese helva samples had no coliform; the samples that were positive for coliform showed an average of 5.1 × 10 3 cfu/g. Staphylococcus aureus was found < 10 cfu/g in analyzed samples. The Cheese helva was characterized by dry matter as 84.32 kg/100 kg cheese, fat as 37.44 kg/100 kg cheese, protein as 13.75 kg/100 kg cheese, NaCI as 0.58 kg/100 kg cheese, titratable acidity as 0.210%, pH as 5.30, ash as 1.49 kg/100 kg cheese, and carbohydrate as 38.56 kg/100 kg cheese. Cheese helva was found to have a high variation based on chemical composition. The microbiological tests revealed that there were high amounts of total bacteria, yeast and molds, molds, lactic acid bacteria, lipolytic bacteria, proteolytic bacteria, and coliforms.

Microbiological characterization of Civil cheese, a traditional Turkish cheese: microbiological quality, isolation and identification of its indigenous Lactobacilli

“…As shown Table 1, change in total bacteria count of the samples was generally accordance with the coliform and Staphylococcus aureus counts. Sengul & Ertugay (2006) also found similar results in Cheese helva.…”

“…According to the Turkish Standard Institute TS 3001 (1989), a maximum count of 100 c.f.u./g of coliform group bacteria are allowable in Tulum cheese. Turkish traditional fermented dairy products like Ç arzof Civil (Civil cheese type produced without adding starter culture in Oltu district of Erzurum) cheese and Cheese helva showed high counts of indicator micro organism such as coliforms (Ozdemir et al 2003;Sengul & Ertugay 2006). Sert & Kıvanc (1985) found coliforms in 87.5% of Civil cheese samples.…”

“…(2003) reported that 12 out of 26 Ç arzof Civil cheese samples contained the Staphylococcus aureus below detectable level, while other samples contained ranging between 1.0Â10 1 and 3.3Â10 2 c.f.u./g. Sengul & Ertugay (2006) found that Staphylococcus aureus counts of Cheese helva were as <10 c.f.u./g in all samples analyzed. However, the presence of Staphylococcus aureus is undesirable in foods (Frazier & Westhoff 1978).…”

“…Bakırcı & Andıc (1999) found that that the average yeasts and moulds content in Ç ec¸il cheese samples was 7.17Â10 5 c.f.u./g. Sengul & Ertugay (2006) reported that the yeast and mould count of Chese helva samples ranged between 1.0Â10 3 and 4.8Â10 5 c.f.u./g, average count was 6.4Â10 4 c.f.u./g. The incidence of yeasts and moulds has been considered a common and recurrent problem during ripening and refrigerated storage of cheese (Frazier & Westhoff 1978).…”

“…Bakırcı & Andıc (1999) reported that total bacteria counts of Ç ec¸il cheese samples (Civil cheese in Mus¸province) ranged varying from 1.0Â10 6 to 9.20Â10 8 c.f.u./g, with average 2.61Â10 8 c.f.u./g. Sengul & Ertugay (2006) determined that the minimum, maximum and average numbers of total bacteria in 15 Cheese helva (a traditional cheese variety produced without adding starter culture from Civil cheese, wheat flour and milk cream or butter in Erzurum) samples collected from Erzurum province of Turkey were 2.0Â10 6 , 2.0Â10 8 and 4.9Â10 7 c.f.u./g, respectively. As shown Table 1, change in total bacteria count of the samples was generally accordance with the coliform and Staphylococcus aureus counts.…”