Study of the effects of microbial, recombinant and animal rennets on some of the qualitative and quantitative properties of iranian white cheese

In this research، microbial، recombinant and animal rennet were used in the production of Iranian white cheese. The produced cheeses were compared regarding the yields of product، the rates of the proteolysis index، chemical، textural and some sensory properties during ripening period. The results indicated that there were significant differences in total solid content، salt and pH values of cheese samples (P< 0. 05). The highest and lowest yields of cheeses were obtained with animal and microbial rennet، respectively. The proteolysis rates were significantly different with three produced cheese samples (P< 0. 05). It was significantly higher with microbial cheese than with other samples. The hardness of cheeses produced using animal and microbial rennet were respectively maximal and minimal at the end of the ripening period. The observations of protein network arrangement also showed that the protein content of matrix has been decreased during the repining period. The maximal and minimal decrements were belonged to the cheeses produced by microbial and animal rennet، respectively. The highest and lowest sensory scores were obtained with control sample (animal rennet-based cheese) and microbial rennet-based cheese. According to this research، the cheese produced by microbial rennet showed lower quality compared to the animal and recombinant rennet. In general، because of the low availability of animal rennet and low quality of the cheese produced by microbial rennet، it seems that the recombinant rennet can be used as a proper substitute in cheese production industry.