Assessment of Physicochemical, Microbial and Sensory Characteristics of Fresh White and Red Sorghum Extract Preserved West African Soft Cheese Retailed in Ogbomoso, South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

The physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of fresh white and fresh red sorghum extract preserved West African soft cheese were investigated. It was found that the fresh red sorghum extract preserved soft cheese had higher (p<0.05) nutrient contents (17.23% protein, 14.10% fat and 1.67% ash) than the fresh white soft cheese, which had 16.57% protein, 13.57% fat and 1.57% ash. The fresh white soft cheese had higher total viable bacterial counts (7.7 x 10⁴ cfu/ml) and higher total fungal counts (4.2 x 10⁴ cfu/ml). While the fresh red sorghum extract preserved soft cheese had lower values of 3.1 x 10⁴ cfu/ml (total bacterial counts) and 9.6 x 10² cfu/ml (total fungal counts). The microorganisms isolated were Bacillus species, Pseudomonas species, Aspergillus species and Penicillium species. The microbial load in the two types of soft cheese isolated fall within the acceptable recommendation of the European Commission standards (2004/24/EC and 852/2004/EC) for retailed cheese (between 102 to < 10⁵ cfu/g). Mean scores recorded for the sensory attributes were all very high and ranged between 6.42 and 8.67 on a nine point hedonic scale. It can be concluded that the fresh red sorghum extract preserved soft cheese had higher nutrient contents, lower microbial counts but lesser sensory quality levels than the fresh white soft cheese.