Abstract
The present study has been carried out for evaluating hygienic and nutritional quality of treated Peulh cheese using Sorghum vulgaris and Pimenta racemosa extracts. After the treatment of cheeses with the two extracts, a significant reduction of the microbial flora occurs during the conservation. It seems however worthy that combining temperature and extracts is necessary. The decrease of pH values of fresh cheeses compared to those of treated ones has been observed and connected to the amount of lactic acid present (0.17% for fresh cheese and 0.21% for treated ones). It results a lowering of the pH values of fresh cheeses and those treated with extracts are respectively 6.47 and 6.08. Titrable acidity values as a percentage of lactic acid, which is related to the pH values. The amount of water in studied cheeses decreases from 64.02% to 58.37% leading to a reduction in their osmophile flora.
In nutritional terms, there is a conservation of lipid level (47.20%), protein (38.56%) and an increase of ash (minerals) from 4.23% to 5.21% in treated cheeses. These results indicate an important cheese quality improvement in hygienic and level, induced by conservation.