Utilización de probióticos para la conservación de queso ricotta

Abstract

The lack of whey use and the constant quest for products contributing to health benefits have sparked interest in functional products. Therefore, this study aimed to employ probiotics for ricotta cheese preservation. The methodology research included sixteen experimental units subjected to evaluation, distributed across four treatments with four replicates in each unit. In the microbiological analysis, it was essential to determine the presence of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, and Lactobacillus bifidobacterium at 0, 5, 10, and 20 days of storage by using Agar MRS medium. The analysis of parameters like pH (measured with a pH meter), moisture content (measured with a thermobalance), and fat content in dry extract (via the Gerber method) were also parameters evaluated. In addition, the sensory evaluation used a 5-point hedonic scale test. The statistical software "Info stat" 2020 was necessary to perform data analysis by applying DCA and Tukey's test (P≤ 0.05) and the Kruskal-Walli’s test for sensory analysis. The findings reported highly significant values for treatments, indicating that adding probiotic bacteria at 10 and 20 days of storage led to increased growth, classifying these as probiotic foods. Findings also reported an acidic pH for all treatments. For this reason, there were no significant differences in pH. However, moisture and fat content in dry extract displayed highly significant differences, with values of 71.4% when not incorporating probiotic bacteria and 3.83% when using Lactobacillus bifidobacterium, respectively. The highest growth (8.42E+06 CFU/g) resulted when using Lactobacillus casei at ten days of storage compared to the 0, 5, and 20-day treatments. The use of probiotics influenced the aroma, taste, and cheese colour while not affecting its texture. Finally, implementing Lactobacillus casei probiotic strains is an aspect to consider due to their identified higher growth.