Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 5;26(5):1405.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26051405.

Chemical Characteristics and Oxidative Stability of Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese Produced with Fresh and Frozen Curd

Simona Rinaldi  1 , Giuliano Palocci  1 , Sabrina Di Giovanni  1 , Miriam Iacurto  1 , Carmela Tripaldi  1
Affiliations

Chemical Characteristics and Oxidative Stability of Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese Produced with Fresh and Frozen Curd

Simona Rinaldi et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Milk and dairy products can have variable contents of antioxidant compounds that contribute to counteract the oxidation of lipids and proteins during processing and storage. The content of active antioxidant compounds is closely linked to their protection by oxidation. Freezing is one of the factors that can reduce antioxidant activity. Freezing of milk or curd is frequently used in case of the seasonality of milk production and/or seasonal increased demand for some products. In this paper, the effect of using frozen curd on the oxidative stability of buffalo Mozzarella cheese was evaluated. Samples of buffalo Mozzarella with different frozen curd content (0%, 5%, 20%, and 50%) were produced and analyzed at one and nine days. Mozzarella cheese with higher frozen curd content had a significant increase in redox potential parallel to the decrease in antioxidant activity, showing less protection from oxidation. Lipid and protein oxidation, expressed respectively by malondialdehyde and carbonyl content, increased significantly with increasing frozen curd. At nine days, carbonyls significantly increased while malondialdehyde content did not vary, showing that during storage, fat was more protected from oxidation than protein. The average carbonyl levels were comparable to those of some cooked cheeses, and the malondialdehyde levels were even lower. The results of this study stimulate the investigation of new strategies to decrease the oxidative damage in cheeses produced in the presence of factors decreasing oxidative stability.

Keywords: MDA; antioxidant activity; carbonyls; lipid oxidation; protein oxidation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Boxplot of redox potential in buffalo Mozzarella cheese produced with frozen curd (FC) preserved for one (T1) and nine days (T9).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplot of carbonyl content in buffalo Mozzarella cheese produced with frozen curd (FC) preserved for one (T1) and nine days (T9).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relation between tryptophan fluorescence and FAST index in Mozzarella cheese samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Canonical plot of discriminant analysis of buffalo Mozzarella cheese with respect to FC%.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Flow-chart for buffalo Mozzarella cheese-making.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996 on the registration of geographical indications and designations of origin under the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92. J. Eur. Union. 1996;148:1–10.
    1. CLAL-Italia: Produzioni di Formaggi DOP. [(accessed on 18 February 2021)]; Available online: https://www.clal.it/index.php?section=formaggi_dop.
    1. Fedele E., Bergamo P. Protein and lipid oxidative stresses during cheese manufacture. J. Food Sci. 2001;66:932–935. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2001.tb08214.x. - DOI
    1. Balestrieri M., Spagnuolo M.S., Cigliano L., Storti G., Ferrara L., Abrescia P., Fedele E. Evaluation of oxidative damage in mozzarella cheese produced from bovine or water buffalo milk. Food Chem. 2002;77:293–299. doi: 10.1016/S0308-8146(01)00347-8. - DOI
    1. Unal G. Antioxidant activity of commercial dairy products. Agro Food Ind. Hi Tech. 2012;23:39–42.

LinkOut - more resources