Abstract

The effect of the storage temperature on the physico-chemical and microbiological composition of waragashi cheese was investigated. For this study, three batch waragashi cheese productions from 10 L of fresh cow milk were investigated. Salted waragashi cheese (7%) was stored for four weeks at -2, 6, and 25°C temperatures and was compared to untreated cheese. Fresh waragashi cheese contained 69.7% moisture, 30.3% total solids, 0.1% acidity (d.b), 11.4% fat (d.b), 7.5 N texture, and a pH of 6.8. At the end of 4 weeks storage, the moisture, the fat, the pH and the texture of salted waragashi cheese at 25°C were 40.09%, 11.45%, 5.0, and 9.97 N, respectively. Significant (p < 0.05) variations were found in texture between samples of stored waragashi at -2 and 6°C. However, salted waragashi cheese at low temperature showed similar physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics to that recommended in various norms. At the same temperature, microbial count of stored waragashi cheese did not change considerably, thus showing the efficiency of temperature and salt on storage of waragashi cheese.

Key words: Waragashi cheese, low temperature storage, texture, chemical composition, microbiological quality.