QUALITY AND SAFETY OF PROCESSED CHEESE SPREAD IN RELATION TO ITS DAIRY INGREDIENTS

Four treatments of low fat spreadable processed cheese according to the Ras cheese brand (RCB), from which SPC was made as follow: T1 (The control) was made using aflatoxin -free RCB, T2 was made using RCB containing 0.09 ppb AFM1 and T3 was made using RCB containing 0.05 ppb AFM1+ 0.01 ppb AFM1 was further added. The T4 was made using RCB containing the highest level of AFM1 0.11 ppb, providing the SMP used for all treatments being confirmed aflatoxin-free. All recipes of low fat SPC were composed from 27.19% Ras cheese and 11.17% SMP besides nondairy additives.
There are significant differences among all spreadable processed cheese treatments, but remaining in complete agreement with those conformed to the specifications stipulated in E.sfor the low fat SPC. Neither yeasts and molds nor coliform were found in all final products. These are positive relationships between hardness and the dry matter content of SPC. The cohesiveness property seemed trending similar to that of adhesiveness.It could be noticed that, the SPC that possessed the lowest springiness value had the highest gumminess as well as chewiness values and vice versa . The SPC is becoming containing aflatoxin M1 as its Ras cheese contained with a level related proportionally with quantity used for its recipe.
It could be concluded that, no matter how great the hygienic and sanitation precautions are in the manufacture of processed cheese; this does not replace the need to investigate the quality, and safety, of the raw materials involved in the industry.