title: Investigating the filled gel model in Cheddar cheese through use of Sephadex beads.
abstract: Cheese can be modeled as a filled gel whereby milkfat globules are dispersed in a casein gel network. We determined the filler effects using Sephadex beads (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA) as a model filler particle. Ideally, such a model could be used to test novel filler particles to replace milkfat in low-fat cheese. Low-filler (6% particles), reduced-filler (16%), and full-filler (33%) cheeses were produced using either Sephadex beads of varying sizes (20 to 150 μm diameter) or milkfat. Small- and large-strain rheological tests were run on each treatment at 8, 12, and 18 wk after cheese manufacturing. Differences in rheological properties were caused primarily by the main effects of filler volume and type (milkfat vs. Sephadex), whereas filler size had no obvious effect. All treatments showed a decrease in deformability and an increase in firmness as filler volume increased above 25%, although the beads exhibited a greater reinforcing effect and greater energy recovery than milkfat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695; Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst 01003.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Barden
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Osborne
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences, Utah State University, Logan 84322.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695. Electronic address: allen_foegeding@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Foegeding
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002364:Caseins / Q000737:chemistry; D002611:Cheese / Q000032:analysis*; D003911:Dextrans / Q000737:chemistry*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D012212:Rheology
chemical_list: D002364:Caseins; D003911:Dextrans; C025614:sephadex
keywords: Sephadex; cheese; filled gel; particle size