Produção e qualidade físico-química e microbiológica de queijos artesanais elaborados com leite de ovelhas em duas fazendas do Estado de Minas Gerais

Abstract

The demand for gourmet and fine products has become a market trend with profit potential, and among these products are sheep cheeses. The goal of this study was to document and characterize the production of 4 types of sheep cheese produced in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, namely half-cure cheese, shanklish, Boursin paste and dry curd and, besides the cheeses, the two participating farms provided samples of water and milk. The water from Farm I showed a chlorine content exceeding the maximum limit of the current legislation and the coliform count in the water from Farm II was also above the allowed by the same regulation (Brasil, 2021). Raw milk from both farms showed values close to studies published nationally and internationally, and pasteurized milk showed minimal enterobacteria counts, which is positive for the inoculation of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LABs). Half-cured cheese had counts of 1.50x106 CFU/g and 2.10x106 CFU/g for cheeses on days D0 and D30 of maturation, a value above that allowed by law, and was adequate for the other parameters (Brasil, 1996). The three sour cream cheeses had mold and yeast counts, total coliforms and thermotolerant coliforms above the limits allowed by law, which indicates a lack of Good Manufacturing Practices, since the raw aterial had good microbiological quality. Regarding the physical-chemical analyses, the cheeses were classified according to MAPA (Brasil, 1996), the semi-cured cheese as full fat and high moisture, the three sour cream cheeses as very high moisture, shanklish and dry curd as semi fat and Boursin paste as full fat. It is important to continue research in the area in order to encourage the inclusion of parameters for sheep's milk and dairy products in Brazilian legislation.