PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF CANASTRA CHEESE

In order to contribute to the characterization of Brazilian artisanal cheeses, this work aimed to determine the proximate composition of 76 units of cheeses from Serra da Canastra, MG. Cheeses, with 22 days of ripening were collected from different producers of Medeiros, São Roque and Tapiraí regions, between July/2017 and April/2018. All the analyses were performed in triplicate. The following contents were determined: moisture (AOAC 925.23), fat (IAL 465/IV), protein (AOAC 2001.14), ash (AOAC 935.42) and titratable acidity, expressed as percent of lactic acid (AOAC 920.124). The Student’s t-test, at a 5 % significance level, was performed to compare the results of samples of registered and unregistered producers on the PQMA (Programa de Queijo Minas Artesanal, EMATER-MG) – Artisanal Minas Cheese Program. Results of analysis of proximate composition (g/100 g) showed moisture of 32 ± 5; protein of 26 ± 3; fat of 35 ± 5 ; ash of 5 ± 1 and acidity of 1.1 ± 0.3. Only the moisture content was significantly different (p < 0,05) between samples of registered (34 ± 6) and unregistered (31 ± 4) producers. Just one sample presented moisture content (50.4 g/100 g) higher than the established limit by Minas Gerais legislation (45.9 g/100 g). The coefficient of variation for moisture, fat and protein content was 15.7 %, 13.6 % e 13.0 %, respectively, that might be justified by the differences on process factors, such as herd type, milking type, production process, regional and climatic characteristics. The results can be considered a good estimate of physicochemical characteristics of artisanal cheese from Serra da Canastra, ripened for 22 days, since the number of samples analyzed correspond to approximately 10 % of the total producers in Serra da Canastra.