CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTIES OF ITALIAN RICOTTA CHEESE AS INFLUENCED BY THE PROTEOLYSIS DURING RIPENING

The objective of the present work is to study the role of proteolysis being occurred in the Italian Ricotta Forte cheese throughout 20 months of ripening. Samples were taken for the examination after 1(day),and the after 1,2,4,6.12 and 19 months. Samples were analysed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), which showed that the level of bovine serum albumin decreased towards the end of the ripening. However,α-lactalbumin and β- lactoglobulin did not degrade rapidly during the ripening. Meanwhile,the levels of pH 4.6-soluble N (SN) as a % of total N (TN) and total free amino acids (FAA) increased towards the end of the ripening. This study improves our understanding about the compositional and proteolytic parameters of Ricotta Forte cheese.