Efeito da redução do sódio nas características físico-químicas do queijo tipo minas padrão

Abstract

Ingestion of large amounts of sodium chloride has been associated with increased incidence of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, incidence of nephrolithiasis, metabolic syndrome and other chronic diseases. The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) evaluated 16 segments of processed foods and found that several products countains high levels of sodium, including some dairy products, standing out the cheeses. Thereby, the present study evaluated the effect of substitution of sodium by potassium on the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of Minas Standard cheeses. The study consisted in the preparation of cheese type Minas Standard Control (C - 100% NaCl), T1 (50% NaCl + 50% KCl) and T2 (30% NaCl + 70% KCl). The cheeses were submitted to microbiological evaluation (coliforms at 35°C and 45°C, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella sp.) and gross composition (moisture, fat, protein, ash and chlorides) at 0 and 45 days of storage at 10°C ± 1˚C. Sodium and potassium levels were measured at 45 days of storage. The physico-chemical characterization consisted in determining titratable acidity, pH, proteolysis extension ratio and depth ratio proteolysis at 0, 15, 30 and 45 days of storage. The T1 and T2 cheeses submitted low moisture content compared to the control throughout the storage time. Chloride concentrations ranged between 0.35 and 0.44%. The content of sodium of T1 was of 99.33 mg and T2 was 73.18 mg, whilst potassium content was 164.39 mg and 243.45 mg for the treatments T1 and T2, respectively. With the sodium reduction, T1 and T2 treatments showed lower pH and higher titratable acidity levels at 45 days of storage compared to the control. The treatment T2 showed significantly proteolysis extension ratio compared to the other treatments. Besides, the depth ratio proteolysis control treatment was higher to the other treatments ratio after 45 days of storage. The cheeses from different treatments showed the microbiological standards within the limits required by law, according to the classification of the moisture content. The cheeses with sodium replacement had lower moisture content, high titratable acidity and initial lower proteolytic acidity when compared to the control cheese. Accordingly, the present research demonstrated that the substitution of sodium by potassium in ratio of 50% and 70% did not cause significant changes in the gross composition and did not affect the microbiological characteristics of cheese formulations.