Abstract:

This paper reports on the effect of different Lactobacillus strains on the quality of reduced-fat Mozzarella cheese(RFMC). A new process for the preparation of “no-brine” Mozzarella cheese, which was determined to contain 9.85% fatwas used in this experiment. Soluble nitrogen, texture properties, meltability and sensory analysis were measured. Resultsshowed that the texture properties, meltability and flavor of low-fat cheese were worse than those of full-fat cheese, butRFMC made with a mixed starter culture consisting of Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus (ST), Lactobacillusdelbrueckil subsp. bulgaricus (LB) and Lactobacillus casei subsp. casei (LC) was close to the full-fat cheese. Compared withthe conventional starter culture (ST + LB), the combination of ST, LB and LC improved significantly the quality defects ofundesired hardness, low meltability and poor flavor.

Key words: reduced-fat, Mozzarella cheese, Lactobacillus, texture properties, meltability