PRODUCTION OF PROCESSED CHEESE USING CHEDDAR CHEESE AND CHEESE BASE .3. COMPOSITIONAL QUALITY

Processed cheese (14 different types) were made from Cheddar cheese and cheese base (CB). The cheese base was produced from reconstituted skim milk ``powder by blending and melting with Joha SE, C \& T emulsifying salts at 90-degrees-C. CB I was made with no added enzyme while CB II was subjected to accelerated cheese ripening by adding Savorase-A enzyme. The finished products had a maximum moisture of 50 \% and a minimum fat in dry matter (FDM) of 45 \%. The processed cheese samples were analyzed when fresh and after 3 and 6 months storage at 10, 20 and 30-degrees-C. After 6 months storage at 10-degrees-C, the moisture loss in the processed cheese was approximately 0.5 \% as compared to a moisture loss in excess of 1.2 \% for samples stored at 20 and 30-degrees-C for the same duration.