0000000000763691
AUTHOR
Scatassa M. L.
Evaluation of curd cooking on microbiological characteristics of “Grana” type pressed cheeses processed from raw ewes’ milk
This work was carried out to pursue a double objective: to improve the hygienic safety of cheeses produced from raw ewes’ milk; and to produce a new typology of cheese through the application of “Grana” technology. With this in mind, raw milk from an individual farm was transformed under controlled condition at a pilot dairy plant. The production technology included the partial skimming of the evening and morning milk mixture by cream surfacing, the addition of a natural whey starter cultures (NWSC) prepared with four selected Streptococcus thermophilus strains (PON6, PON244, PON261 e PON413) isolated from raw ewes’ cheese productions (Gaglio et al., 2014), milk clotting at 38°C, curd cooki…
Prickly pear pulp in the feeding of livestock ruminants: preliminary investigation
In Sicily, the current increasing cultivation of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. corresponds to a availability of prickly pears pulp (PPP) that residues from fruits processing for juice extraction, comprised of peel, pulp and seeds. This investigation aim to evaluate the nutritional traits of PPP for ruminants feeding, and the effect of potassium metabisulfite (PMB) as a natural stabilizer to limit initial rapid PPP fermentation. The by-product, collected in August, included 28% of peel and pulp (PP) and 72% of seeds on dry matter (DM), with seeds higher in ether extract (EE) and NDF and comparable for DM and crude protein (CP) (DM 35.5, 35.9 and 35.6%; EE 6.5, 3.6 and 8.5% DM; CP 6.5, 6.0 …
Seasonality of sheep milk freezing point and relationship with other chemical and physical milk parameters
Milk freezing point (FP) is an important quality indicator which can be used for determination of possible adulteration of the milk with water. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of seasonality on ewe FP produced in Sicily during the last 10 years of investigation. A total of 1,996 samples of raw bulk ewes’ milk were collected from 295 dairy factories located in western Sicily (Italy). The average of the FP during the entire period of investigations was -0.560 °C ± 0.013 °C. The seasonality of milk FP showed that at the beginning of lactations (September) the FP was -0.554°C, than it decreased up to December (-0.561°C). Successively, FP increases until the end of lactations…