TECHNOLOGICAL FACTOR INFLUENCING THE BIOGENIC AMINE CONTENT IN SHEEP CHEESES AND SENSORIAL ANALYSIS (TIME OF REPENING, TEMPERATURE, FORM SIZE, ANTIMUFFA)

Sheep cheese samples have been dosed with the following amines: histamine, tyramine, putrescine, cadaverine, β-phenylethylamine, tryptamine and their precursory aminoacids. Their evolution has been studied as a function of the following parameters: the product size (1, 2 and 5 kg), the maturation temperature (5, 10 and 15 °C), the maturation time (1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 months), the surface treatment with or without anti-mould. Moreover the cheese samples have been submitted to sensorial analysis through a Panel Test with the purpose of correlating taster judgment with amine formation. In the present research only the results related to the 1 kg form size, that is the most commercialised form, are reported. The results have shown that amine formation increases as a function of maturation time and, among the parameters considered, temperature has the greatest influence, because amine formation increases when temperature is increased. Discriminant analysis has shown that the amine that has the most positive effect on the sample discrimination is cadaverine, followed by tyramine and histamine. The overall classification success is equal to 87.5%. The elaboration data related to the sensorial analysis makes it possible to discriminate the cheese samples as a function of the different temperatures. It was possible to discriminate the ripened samples at temperature of 5 and 15 °C with the 100% of cases correctly classified and with the variable “spicy flavor” that mostly influenced the judgment of experienced tasters.