New Insights in Cheese Yield Capacity of the Milk of Italian Brown and Italian Friesian Cattle in the Production of High-Moisture Mozzarela

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of κ-casein B content in milk on the yield of high-moisture mozzarella cheese. The study was carried out by monitoring the production of eight mozzarella cheese batches at four cheesemaking factories. At each factory, two cheesemaking trials were performed in parallel: one using bulk milk from Italian Brown cattle and the other using bulk milk from Italian Friesian cattle. The average κ-casein B content was 0.04 g per 100 g in the Italian Friesian cows’ milk, whereas it was four times higher in the Italian Brown cows’ milk, reaching values of 0.16 g per 100 g. Both the κ-casein B content and κ-casein B to casein ratio were positively correlated with actual cheese yield. Both parameters showed correlation coefficient values over 0.9, higher than for any other protein fraction. The influence of the level of κ-casein on the increase of the yield is probably due to smaller and more homogeneous micelles, with more efficient rennet coagulation. Consequently, milk with higher κ-casein B content produces a more elastic curd that withstands better the technological treatments and limits losses during curd mincing and stretching. In conclusion, the Italian Brown cows’ milk, characterized by higher κ-casein content than the Italian Friesian’s one, allowed a yield increase of about 2.65 %, which is a very relevant result for both farms and cheesemaking factories.

Influenza dei fattori genetici sulla resa in formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano e Grana Padano: una minireview

“…Inoltre, la k-caseina BB è anche correlata a una maggiore resa del formaggio; questo risulta evidente in molti tipi di caseificazioni, anche molto diverse tra loro, come il Cheddar [15,35], il Parmigiano Reggiano [37], la mozzarella a bassa umidità (umidità <52%; mozzarella per pizza) prodotta con latte parzialmente scremato [38] e la mozzarella propriamente detta, ad elevata umidità (umidità >52% ma comunque ≤60%) [39].…”

Quantification of the Effect of the Cattle Breed on Milk Cheese Yield: Comparison between Italian Brown Swiss and Italian Friesian

“…It is well known that cattle breeds can present relevant differences in milk casein and fat contents [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. For instance, Italian Friesian cows, whose population corresponds to about 80% of dairy cows raised in Italy, produce milk with lower fat (−0.21 or −1.35 g/100 g) and casein (−0.27 or −0.38 g/100 g) contents than milks of Brown Swiss [ 4 , 5 ] or Jersey [ 3 ].…”

“…It is well known that cattle breeds can present relevant differences in milk casein and fat contents [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. For instance, Italian Friesian cows, whose population corresponds to about 80% of dairy cows raised in Italy, produce milk with lower fat (−0.21 or −1.35 g/100 g) and casein (−0.27 or −0.38 g/100 g) contents than milks of Brown Swiss [ 4 , 5 ] or Jersey [ 3 ]. However, differences among breeds also include other specific properties such as the ratio among the casein fractions, genetic variants, level of post translational modifications and content of calcium phosphate [ 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…For instance, Italian Friesian cows, whose population corresponds to about 80% of dairy cows raised in Italy, produce milk with lower fat (−0.21 or −1.35 g/100 g) and casein (−0.27 or −0.38 g/100 g) contents than milks of Brown Swiss [ 4 , 5 ] or Jersey [ 3 ]. However, differences among breeds also include other specific properties such as the ratio among the casein fractions, genetic variants, level of post translational modifications and content of calcium phosphate [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. All these “molecular” aspects influence the structural characteristics of the casein micelle, the aptitude of milk to rennet coagulation and the rheological properties of the resulting curd [ 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…In particular, casein micelles rich in k-casein are smaller than those with a lower content of this fraction, and show optimal behavior during rennet coagulation with a better retention of fat in the para-caseinate network [ 6 , 11 , 12 ]; another relevant aspect is the presence of the B genetic variant of k-casein, which has been reported to improve the coagulation aptitude [ 13 ]. Overall, these molecular features exert an additive effect on cheese yield that goes beyond the simple “richness” in casein and fat [ 5 ]. The measurement of these properties requires time-consuming and expensive methods, such as liquid chromatography for the assessments of genetic variants of caseins, their relative proportions and the level of post-translational modifications, ultrafiltration for the measurements of salt distribution and the calcination of milk and milk fractions as a preliminary step in the measurement of the content of minerals by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS).…”