Sviluppo di nuove strategie produttive per la realizzazione di prodotti lattiero-caseari senza lattosio

My PhD research project has been carried out within the industrial characterization doctorate fellowship (PON FSE-FESR Research and Innovation 2014-2020”, Action I.1 “Dottorati innovativi con caratterizzazione industriale”), in cooperation with “Borgo dei Vinci”, a dairy industry in Vibo Valentia, Calabria (Italy). The project focused on the development of a new lactose-free cheeses production process and its application to the manufacture of the Calabrian PAT Provola cheese, a stretched curd cheese usually consumed after a very short maturation (10 days). The project aims to obtain a lactose-free Provola cheese with sensory characteristics as close as possible to those of the PAT cheese. Lactose was hydrolyzed by adding lactase enzyme to the brine, namely at the end of the cheese-making process. The hypothesis was that the enzyme penetrated the cheese curd and played its hydrolytic activity during the aging time (10 days at 4 ° C). The process was developed, optimized, and tested in the laboratory where mini-cheese-making was carried out. Subsequently, it was transferred to the dairy industry for its application on an industrial scale. The transfer on the industrial scale did not require further modifications and adjustments of the developed process. Chemical, physicochemical, and sensorial analysis of the cheese samples made in the dairy industry highlighted differences between the lactose-free samples and the control sample in terms of pH, titratable acidity, color (of both the rind and the curd), texture, volatile and sensory profile. The discriminating and affective tests conducted with a panel of 80 consumers showed that more than half of the consumers judged the lactose-free samples sensorially different from the control cheese but almost all consumers declared to want to consume the lactose-free cheeses, revealing a high acceptability of these products The favorable outcome of the transfer on the industrial scale suggests important economic repercussions on the Italian dairy sector, consisting mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises. These, in fact, will have the opportunity to join the “lactose-free” market without being forced to invest huge capital for new production lines.