Effects of time and temperature of storage on chemical and nutritional characteristics of raw milk for Provolone Valpadana PDO cheesemaking: a multivariate approach.

We evaluated the possibility of increasing the storage temperature of raw milk for Provolone Valpadana cheesemaking, to identify the most suitable conditions of time and temperature for a pre-maturation process. We used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to analyze the overall effects of different storage conditions on chemical, nutritional and technological characteristics of the raw milk. Four different thermal storage cycles, two at fixed temperature/time (6 and 12°C for 60 h) and two with two-phase thermal cycle (10 and 12°C for 15 h, followed by refrigeration at 4°C for 45 h) were studied.

Potentialities of aqueous extract from cultivated Onopordum tauricum (Willd.) as milk clotting agent for cheesemaking.

In Western and Central Mediterranean countries proteases from wild herbaceous perennial plants commonly known as "thistles" have been used as milk coagulants in cheese-making for centuries. For the first time, the technological and biochemical traits of proteases from cultivated Onopordum tauricum Willd. (Taurian thistle, bull cottonthistle) were assessed.

Content and Nutritional Evaluation of Zinc in PDO and Traditional Italian Cheeses.

Zinc is an essential mineral which plays a key role in several important biological processes in the human body. The determination of its level in food matrices can contribute to the food quality characterization and to the adequacy of the diet. Animal food products generally have a higher zinc content compared to vegetables.

New Trends for the Evaluation of Heat Treatments of Milk.

Milk is generally very rich in nutrients and this may lead it to be an ideal growth environment for many microorganisms, including pathogens, so effective measurements aiming to ensure total microbiological safety of milk and minimize the risk to human health are needed. Milk heat treatments are the most common practices carried out to inhibit the microbial growth; therefore it is necessary to have analytical procedures that are more and more up-to-date and capable of detecting the effectiveness of the heat treatments. Most of the reference and official methods to assess heat treatment in milk are based on the evaluation of the modifications of some milk components following the thermal process, such as the determination of enzyme activities (alkaline phosphatase and lactoperoxidase), whey proteins, Maillard reaction compounds (generally furosine), and lactulose.

Updating Nutritional Data and Evaluation of Technological Parameters of Italian Milk.

Different technologically treated Italian milks (whole and semi-skimmed ultra-high temperature (UHT), pasteurized and microfiltered milk), collected from 2009 to 2012, were evaluated for nutritional and technological properties. No significant differences in calcium and sodium were detected ( > 0.05), while significant differences were observed concerning phosphorus content, between whole and semi-skimmed milk, and lactose content, between pasteurized and UHT milk ( < 0.