Inline Determination of the Gel Elastic Modulus During Milk Coagulation Using a Multifiber Optical Probe

From a state-of-the-art point of view, it is currently possible to optically monitor the enzymatic coagulation of milk for real time estimation of the elastic modulus to cut the gel at optimum gel firmness. However, European cheese industry produces a wide variety of cheeses, many of them artisanal,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food and bioprocess technology 2024-10, Vol.17 (10), p.3149-3161
Main Authors: Villaquiran, Zulma, Zamora, Anna, Arango, Oscar, Castillo, Manuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Biotechnology
Calcium channels (voltage-gated)
Cheese
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Chemistry/Food Science
Coagulation
Curd
Dairy products
Design factors
Factorial design
Firmness
Food Science
Low cost
Mechanical properties
Milk
Modulus of elasticity
Predictions
Proteins
Real time
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Summary:From a state-of-the-art point of view, it is currently possible to optically monitor the enzymatic coagulation of milk for real time estimation of the elastic modulus to cut the gel at optimum gel firmness. However, European cheese industry produces a wide variety of cheeses, many of them artisanal, and has a very fragmented productive structure with many small-, medium-sized companies. Therefore, if the technology is to be successfully uptake, it must be not only accurate but very low-cost. The objective of this work was to evaluate a low-cost commercial multifiber probe, for inline optical determination of curd firmness during cheese making. Preliminary tests were carried out to select the most appropriate fiber core size and wavelength and after that coagulation trials were performed following a fully randomized factorial design with two factors, i.e., concentration of protein (3.2, 3.6 and 4.0%) and added calcium (150, 200 and 250 mg L −1 ), with three replicates. The observed linear increase of the least square means of the initial voltage with the protein content (V 0  = 0.15[P, %] + 0.88; R 2  = 0.999), will be likely synergistic with the elastic modulus prediction if the model needs to be corrected for protein. Finally, the multifiber probe allowed predicting curd firmness using the proposed model with SEP values 
ISSN:1935-5130
1935-5149
DOI:10.1007/s11947-023-03294-9