Investigation of cheese-making factors effect on ripening of a semi-hard cheese for product quality enhancement

The work is devoted to understand how cheese making factors can influence the quality of cheese along ripening. The study is focused on a semi-hard cheese (Toma). Three parameters (type of milk, of curd and of starter bacteria) were studied by a full factorial experimental design, providing a set of eight cheese samples characterised, after one and two months of ripening respectively, by compositional parameters and the content of biogenic amines. Principal Component Analysis and the regression models built for one and two months relating cheese making factors to quality parameters, allowed to point out important relationships existing between cheese making conditions, ripening time and quality and led to suggest best practices in the cheese making procedure of Toma cheese, according to the improvement in both food safety and quality. The approach is intended as a guideline for product optimization taking into account the technological features of the product, food safety issues and the receipt constraints.