Determination of functional, textural and colour properties of market Mozzarella cheese

Mozzarella cheese is one of the most popular members of pasta-filata family cheeses that originated in Italy. There is increasing demand of Mozzarella cheese for preparation of varieties of food products. The various properties such as functional, textural and colour properties of Mozzarella cheese play a vital role in its marketing and consumer acceptance. In the present study, these properties of four brands of market Mozzarella cheese were determined. The stretchability, flowability and meltability of market Mozzarella cheese samples were found statistically significantly different (p<0.01). The average values for stretchability, flowability and meltability ranged (minimum to maximum) between 14.67 +/- 4.16 to 76.67 +/- 2.06 cm, 20.47 +/- 6.39 to 40.67 +/- 1.01 % and 1.67 +/- 0.23 to 10.2 +/- 1.35 cm, respectively. All the textural and colour properties of market Mozzarella cheese were found statistically highly significantly different between the brands (p<0.001). The values of the hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness of market Mozzarella cheese (minimum to maximum) varied from 29.51 +/- 4.48 to 35.64 +/- 0.16 N,-0.02 +/- 0.02 to-0.67 +/- 0.32 Ns, 0.32 +/- 0.06 to 0.89 +/- 0.05, 0.28 +/- 0.03 to 0.56 +/- 0.05, 10.11 +/- 1.56 to 28.91 +/- 4.16 and 3.29 +/- 1.06 to 25.80 +/- 4.52, respectively. The L*, a*, b*, chroma value, hue angle and whiteness index values of Market Mozzarella cheese varied from 70.30 +/- 0.10 to 73.77 +/- 0.15,-1.14 +/- 0.19 to 1.60 +/- 0.12, 19.88 +/- 0.27 to 25.55 +/- 0.34, 19.91 +/- 0.28 to 25.60 +/- 0.33,-1.51 +/- 0.00 to 1.51 +/- 0.01 radian and 60.79 +/- 0.27 to 66.22 +/- 0.33, respectively. Colour and functional characteristics of Mozzarella cheese play a vital role for market acceptance along with textural characteristics for development of process equipments for Mozzarella cheese making.