Our fourth writing was done by Caitlin Zaring. She is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Tennessee under Dr. Elizabeth Eckelkamp. She holds a M.S. and B.S. in Animal Science from the same intuition and an A.S. in Biology from a local community college. Her survey-based research describes the value-added dairy population and consumer preferences for value-added dairy products in Tennessee.
Session focused on cheese and dairy products
Led by Dr. Rodrigo Ibáñez from the Center for Dairy Research, one of ADSA 2022’s Monday afternoon symposia gave attendees insight into current research regarding various dairy products, with an emphasis on cheeses. Work from eight presenters was discussed during the two-hour symposia.
Dr. Tom O’Callaghan, University College Cork in Cork, Ireland, kicked off the session. The Irish dairy industry (a pasture-based seasonal dairy system) produces milk high in β-keratin. Giving butter, such as Kerrygold, the characteristic yellow color with creamy texture.
Presenter Caitlin Zaring, a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, found younger, married men who purchased local foods frequently were more knowledgeable of and had a higher purchase likelihood for milk produced and bottled by the same operation in Tennessee.
Other presenters, including Dr. Zeynep Atamer and Ph.D. student Jeff Kuhfeld, discussed the identification and impact of bitter peptides such as β-casein. These proteins were seen to lead to cheese developing an unpleasant bitter taste. Still, this bitter taste could be avoided by reducing calcium or bitter peptides, such as β-casein.
Additionally, research is being conducted to identify bitter peptides, which will be used to build future research on eliminating or controlling these identified peptides. Other studies presented the impacts of various production methods and compositions for cheese types.
Graduate student Maggie Becher, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, analyzed pasteurization and curd stretching temperature impacts on the shelf-life of string cheese and reported that the higher temperatures in pasteurization and stretching lead to reduced proteolysis. Still, the eventual loss of stringiness was not prevented regardless of temperature level.
The final three presenters were graduate students from Utah State University (Lemin Ali and Anjali Verma) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Daniel Wilbanks). Lemin Ali found the composition of dairy produced played a role in product behavior and could be used to understand food structure and mouthfeel. Additionally, Anjali Verma found that galactose concentration and proteolysis affect browning and blistering of baked mozzarella. The final presenter found that high-pressure processing leads to shelf-stable, high-protein cultured milk beverages. This dairy product symposium showed us that small milk and cheese structure changes can lead to major dairy product distinctions.