The Quality and Composition of Iranian Low-Salt UF-White Cheese

Abstract

In cheese, the reduction of salt is still a challenging task, as sodium chloride exerts multiple and fundamental functions. Salt favors the drainage of the residual whey; enhances the taste and the aroma profile; regulates the texture, the final pH, and the water activity; and affects the microbial growth. Hence the impact of partial replacement of NaCl by KCl on the ripening characteristics of Iranian UF (ultrafiltration) cheese during storage was monitored. To produce low-salt cheese, different mixtures of UF white cheese were treated with NaCl : KCl ratios of (a) 3% NaCl (control), (b) 1.50% NaCl+1.50% KCl, (c) 1.00% NaCl+2.00% KCl, and (d) 0.75% NaCl+2.25% KCl by dry salting. ADV (acid degree value) results showed significant differences ( P < 0.05 ) in all treatments after 15, 30, 40, and 50 days of ripening. No significant differences were observed in the GC (gas chromatography) results in the samples’ free fatty acid (FFA) profile except for C18 : 0 in all treatments. KCl did not affect the moisture, dry matter, fat, TN (total nitrogen)/dry matter, and WSN (water-soluble nitrogen) contents of cheeses considerably. The evaluation of force to fracture showed that there were significant differences ( P < 0.05 ) between treatment (d) as a control cheese and treatments (b) and (c). Sensory evaluations showed as the concentration of KCl increased, the cheese gradually became less acceptable and treatments with higher potassium chloride content were crumblier and less firm. Results of the aroma evaluation of cheese samples showed that unlike acetaldehyde, ethanol, acetoin, and diacetyl amounts decreased significantly ( P < 0.05 ) during the storage period. Results also indicated that a reduction of sodium by up to 50% did not significantly affect the quality and composition of Iranian low-salt UF-white cheese except for sensory evaluation, texture analysis, and aroma characteristics.

Evaluation of low sodium Kačkavalj cheese properties using 3D scanning, scanning electron microscopy and computer vision system

“…Moreover, there were no statistical differences between these cheese variants, suggesting that reducing NaCl content by 30% and replacing it with KCl by 30% has no effect on the chemical composition of the cheese. Similar results were shown by Lavasani (2022), who indicated that salting cheese with different NaCl and KCl mixtures had no effect on moisture, dry matter, fat or total nitrogen/dry matter. Therefore, lowering the salt content is important in the modern diet strategy and should be performed on different types of cheese considering that it does not significantly affect the chemical composition.…”

“…The consequences of excessive salt intake include high blood pressure, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease (Khetra et al . 2019; Lavasani 2022). The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed the reduction of sodium intake by 30% to align with the guideline of 2 g/day (i.e.…”

Characteristics of Iranian Probiotic UF White Cheese

“…Extraction of cheese lipids and isolation of the FFA were executed by GC as described by Shahab Lavasani [14]. Samples were prepared as follows: anhydrous Na 2 SO 4 (4 g) was used to grind cheese (2.5 g); after this, 0.4 ml H 2 SO 4 (2.5 M) and 1.0 ml internal standard solution containing C 5:0 , C 7:0 , C 9:0 , C 13:0 , and C 17:0 (0.5 mg ml-1each) were added.…”

“…Identifcation and quantifcation of the cheese samples were based on known parameters. Concentrations of diferent fatty acids were based on a standard (≥99% GC; Sigma, Steinheim, Germany) [14].…”

“…Although the appearance of free fatty acids in a complex system such as cheese should generally be considered the net result of several possible processes (such as enzymatic hydrolysis of existing glycerides, biosynthesis carried out by microfora, and nonenzymatic oxidation of long-chain unsaturated fatty acids), hydrolytic action of lipase is probably the main way of formation of free fatty acids due to the optimal pH range of cheeses. Te rate of lipolysis may also be afected by lipid structure via increasing the interface for lipase activity [14]. Te origin of lipase in cheese is from milk, nonstarter microorganisms, starter microorganisms, or possibly from rennet.…”