TREATMENT OF CANASTRA CHEESE RIND WITH RESIN AND ITS EFFECTS DURING THE CHEESE RIPENING AND IN THE CHEESE QUALITY AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING THE VISUAL ASPECT AND ADD VALUE TO THE PRODUCT

Abstract

The main objective of this work was to evaluate an alternative to improve the visual aspect of presentation and the quality of the artisanal Minas Canastra cheese of without changing its unique characteristics. Thus, we evaluate the artisanal Minas Canastra cheeses during ripening with application of food grade resin in relation to those without resin application in relation to the physical-chemical, microbiological and sensory properties, during the four seasons. In preliminary experiments were defined the way of the resin application (by hands) and the amount (5g of pure resin per unit of cheese, without adding potassium sorbate). During the ripening period (2, 15, 30 and 45 days) we did not observe significant difference between the cheeses with and without resin application in relation to physico-chemical properties such as pH, water activity, moisture content, fat in dry matter, extension and depth of proteolysis. At 15 and 30 days of the cheese ripening, the sensorial Modified Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (MQDA) indicated no difference between the treatments with and without resin application in relation to the sensory attributes evaluated, except for the overall appearance after 15 days of ripening. The cheeses with the application of resin had a score relating to overall appearance higher than those without application, after 15 days of ripening, due to lower growth of yeast and molds during this period. In the acceptance test by the 9 point hedonic scale, also there was no significant difference between cheeses with and without resin application during the four seasons. However, we found significant differences in the cheeses throughout the year, in relation to physico-chemical properties such pH, fat content in dry matter and depth of proteolysis, and even in relation to the sensory attributes such to overall appearance, color, texture, consistency and flavor. The microbiological counts of the cheeses with and without resin application, after 15 days of ripening, the difference in microbial counts between the four seasons were less than a logarithmic cycle, except for mesophilic aerobic and Staphylococcus aureus. The coefficients of variation related to microbiological counts of the cheeses with 15 days of ripening, compared to the four seasons, were relativelylow, except for Staphylococcus aureus counts in cheeses with and without resin application and total coliforms count in cheeses without resin application. After 15 days of cheese ripening, there was no Listeria sp. and Salmonella sp. in the cheese with and without resin application, in the four seasons evaluated. For cheeses with application of resin there was less growth of yeasts and molds during ripening (45 days) compared to those without resin application, which minimize the cheese weight losses with scratching the cheese rind to clean and to improve the visual aspect during this period.