Quality Characterization of Processed Cheese Inoculated by Bacillus coagulans During Cold Storage: Compositional and Sensorial Attributes and Probiotic Microorganism Viability

The effect of the addition of probiotic spores (10(7) and 10(8)colony-forming unit [cfu]/g) of Bacillus coagulansATCC 7050 on the critical quality attributes of an Iranian processed cheese including chemical composition, pH, titratable acidity (TA), survival rate and sensory features was studied during 60 days of cold storage. No significant difference was found in the chemical composition by the increasing spore count. A low pH value and a high TA quantity in the cheese inoculated by Ba.coagulans spores in comparison with the control sample were observed (P<0.05). Results showed that the viability of probiotic cells was mentioned more than 10(6)cfu/g during the cold storage. The color, odor and texture sensory scores were insignificantly affected by the addition of probiotic spores during storage. However, a significant difference was found for the flavor and overall acceptability among different samples as these sensory attributes decreased with an increase in spore count. Practical ApplicationsIncorporation of probiotic bacteria has been successfully performed in whey cheese matrices. However, probiotic-processed cheese inoculated by Bacillus coagulans spores have not been before made according to the data found in the literature. The use of this microbial source in producing processed cheese led to the improved critical quality attributes during 60 days of storage at refrigerator temperature. This study demonstrated that the processed functional cheese can be a potential carrier for the delivery of probiotic cells.