The local cheese factories currently use bovine commercial starter cultures, and the spreadable cheese process is not standardized. A detailed understanding of the effect of pasteurization temperature, starter culture, and incubation temperature must allow producers to optimize the process, increase cheese yield, and improve the quality of the final product. The main objective of the study was to describe the preparation method of spreadable goat cheese and investigate the effects of specific processing conditions (pasteurization temperature, starter culture, and incubation temperature) on the composition, yield, rheology, and sensory characteristics of the final product. Results showed the impact of pasteurization temperature, starter culture, and incubation temperature on spreadable goat cheese. The results indicated that it is possible to improve cheese yield, rheological properties, and sensory analysis when milk is pasteurized at 75 ∘ C for 30 minutes; cheese yield can also be improved by lowering incubation temperature to 37 ∘ C. Cheeses made with autochthonous starter culture showed better sensory characteristics and higher pH compared to the cheeses made with commercial culture.

β-Galactosidases from Kluyveromyces lactis and Kluyveromyces marxianus isolated from artisanal ewes' milk cheeses, were used to transgalactosylate lactose from cheese whey permeate (WP). The content of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) obtained by transgalactosylation was comparable with that formed using pure lactose as substrate. In order to obtain a mixture with higher prebiotic oligosaccharide content, isomerisation of the transgalactosylated WP was carried out using sodium aluminate as catalyst. The transgalactosylated mixtures at 6 h of reaction contained amounts of prebiotic carbohydrates (tagatose, lactulose, GOS and oligosaccharides derived from lactulose, OsLu) close to 50 g/100 g of total carbohydrates for all the strains tested, corresponding to 322 g prebiotics/kg whey permeate. Thus, the suitability of this methodology to produce mixtures of dietary non-digestible carbohydrates with prebiotic properties from WP has been demonstrated, which is interesting for the food industry since it increases the value and the applicability of this by-product from cheese manufacture.

The aim of the present work was to investigate the effects of vacuum packaging and storage time on physicochemical composition, fatty acid content, color, microbiological content and rheological behavior of artisanal fresh goat cheese during refrigerated storage. The results show that both vacuum packaging and storage time had an influence on moisture content, color variation and rind formation, obtaining better visual appearance and higher moisture content in vacuum packed cheeses. The packaging also positively influenced the rheological study, observing that the vacuum packed cheeses at the end of the study exhibited a behavior similar to that of the cheeses at time 0. Vacuum packaging of artisanal goat cheeses represents the possibility of preserving the cheeses for a longer time and thus increasing their shelf life. On the other hand, the decrease in moisture loss also represents an economic benefit for producers.

No abstract