Research helps cheese producers reduce waste
New research from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia allows quality to be checked much earlier and more precisely in the process, giving manufacturers a better chance to react to issues during ripening.
Dr Roya Afshari said the team devised a method to expose cheese's biomarkers - or fingerprints - to show unique combinations of things like chemicals and milk-derived components that make up the perfect block.
"Once we know the chemical profile of a successful cheese, we can compare it to new batches as soon as 30 days into the ageing process," she said.
"It's like a pregnancy screening test for cheese - we analyze the biological data early in the development to see if there are any red flags. This could be done alongside traditional analyses like tasting to highlight future potential problems."
The team looked at different commercial Cheddar cheeses in Australia and applied multi-omics - a kind of biological analysis typically used in human medicine to detect diseases early.
Researchers studied the biological make up of different brands and grades of cheese and worked with data experts to interpret and compare the results for known batches.
"Once we knew the unique properties of a finished cheese, we compared them to ripening batches and worked out which compounds distinguished the best cheeses," Afshari said.
With larger datasets, it will be possible for these techniques to let manufacturers know if their batch will age properly, because they can check to see if the key compounds have developed early in the ripening process or, just as importantly, that the bad ones haven't.
Afshari said incorporating multi-omics analysis into testing cheese gives professional cheese graders more tools to accurately assess for quality.
"Cheese chemical fingerprints can be compared against those found in the perfect product, along with traditional grading methods. Now we can identify different types and grades of cheese more accurately than a taste test."
The researchers have published three recent studies demonstrating how interpreting the biological profile of cheese can aid manufacturing and grading.
In separate studies, they used multi-omics analyses to differentiate Cheddar cheeses based on their age and brand, compare cheese of varying quality, and group artisanal and industrial Cheddar cheeses based on type and brand.
The method devised by the RMIT team is scalable and, with more development, could be used to test just about any food or beverage product, including wine, for quality and authenticity.
Chief supervisor of the research, Professor Harsharn Gill, said the days of counterfeit food and drink products could be numbered, as bioanalysis technology becomes commercially available.
"Some products' fingerprints are so unique and detailed that we can narrow down a sample to its origin," he said.
"Clues like the type of grapes used to the fermenting process can be answered by studying wine and comparing results to a trusted sample. We're still a long way off from having the technology affordable and therefore widely accessible but we're open to working with industry using facilities in the RMIT Food Research and Innovation Centre.
"As new tools become available, we'll have more power to inspect and interpret chemical data from food from many different angles, leading to more sustainable manufacturing.”
Frontiers in Microbiology
Microbiota and metabolite profiling combined with integrative analysis for differentiating cheeses of varying ripening ages
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.592060
Food Control
Biomarkers associated with cheese quality uncovered by integrative multi-omic analysis
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2020.107752
Scientific Reports
New insights into cheddar cheese microbiota-metabolome relationships revealed by integrative analysis of multi-omics data
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-59617-9
