Effect of Biological Coagulants and Heat Treatment Duration on the Microbiological Properties of Nigerian Soft Cow-milk Cheese

The study examines the microbiological properties of cheese from cow milk as influenced by heat treatment durations and biological coagulant types. The cow milk was pasteurized at 65°C and subjected to further heat treatment for 15, 20, and 25 minutes with the addition of coagulants (lime juice, tamarind pulp and moringa seed paste) to respective samples and allowed to cool for 30 minutes before pressing out the whey. The initial properties of raw cow milk were determined to serve as control and the nine produced cow-milk cheese samples were determined using a 3x3 factorial treatment design. The microbiological properties of the cheese were determined using standard methods. Results obtained were analyzed statistically to determine the influence of heat treatment duration and coagulant sample.The microbial analysis revealed that there was Coliform in samples from cow cheeses, C25 (moringa seed paste coagulated cheese at 15 minutes of heat treatment) has the highest Coliform of 1.6x103 cfu/g, B15 (tamarind pulp coagulated cheese at 15 minutes of heat treatment) and C20 have yeast and mould bacteria of <1.0 ×102cfu/g and mesophylic bacteria was highest at C15 of 1.1x104 cfu/g, which are also within the permissible limit of consumption.This study is initiated to determine the effect of heat treatment and local coagulants on the microbial properties of Nigerian soft cow-milk cheese. The microbiological analysis revealed that the cow-milk cheese samples were all fit for consumption at all the HTD.