A Method for Manufacturing Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese'

RICHARD K. MERRILL, CRAIG J. OBERG,2 and DONALD J. McMAHON

Western Center for Dairy Protein Research and Technology
Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences
Utah State University
Logan 84322-8700
ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

Mozzarella cheese was manufactured

than conventional part-skim Mozzarella cheese.
Milk, which had been standardized to a
casein to fat ratio of 1.2, 1.6, 2.0, or 2.4,
was inoculated with single strains of
Lactobacillus helveticus and Streptococcus salivanus ssp. themphilus. A new
manufacturing procedure was used to retain moisture in the cheese as at percentages decreased and protein increased.
Stretch, melt, and cook color were evaluated at 1, 7, 14, and 28 d during storage
at 4'C. Analysis of variance showed no
significant differences in stretch, melt, or
cook color between cheeses with different casein to fat ratios. Cheese made
with a casein to fat ratio of 2.4 retained
more stretch over 28 d than did cheese
with lower casein to fat ratios. Stretch
decreased and melt increased significantly for all cheeses during storage for
28 d. The stretch and melt characteristics
of Mozzarella cheese containing up to
50% less fat were similar to the partskim Mozzarella reference cheese.
(Key words: Mozzarella cheese, reduced
fat, physical properties)

Production of Italian cheese varieties (Mozzarella, Provolone, Ricotta, Romano, and

Parmesan) in the United States increased in
1991 to 1.1 billion kg; Mozzarella cheese accounted for 78% of the total Italian cheese
production (USDA Statistical Research Service, Washington, DC, 1992, personal communication). Reduced fat, lowfat, and nonfat dairy
products are becoming more prevalent in the
dairy industry. However, decreasing or removing fat from cheese changes physical and flavor characteristics, which often reduces quality. Brown (3) found that decreasing the
amount of milk fat results in a cheese that is
very hard and tough. Reduced fat Mozzarella
cheeses manufactured to date typically have
less than 30% of the milk fat removed.
Removal of more milk fat usually results in
very tough curd and poor melt and stretch
properties (3).
Modification of the protein or fat percentage of Mozzarella cheese made with recombined milk also reduces stretch and melt (11).
The cohesiveness and hardness of Mozzarella
cheese made with retentate-supplemented milk
were similar to those of conventional Mozzarella cheese (7, 8). Creamer and Olson (6)
attribute changes in cheese body and texture to
the endopeptidases that cleave a-casein. Concentrations of as-casein were higher in Mozzarella cheese than in Gouda or Cheddar (5).
The ratio of peptidase activity to protease activity is higher in Lactobacillus helveticus than
in Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus
(10). This ratio affects the rates of change in
the textural properties of cheese (16).
The physical properties of Mozzarella
cheese depend on cheese age, pH, calcium,
moisture, fat, salt content, and the starter culture (4, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 24).When moisture
or fat on a dry basis increases, Mozzarella
cheese becomes softer and less shreddable (9,
17). When direct acidification is used instead

to contain up to 50% less fat

Abbreviation key: C:F = Ratio of casein to

fat.

Received May 24, 1993.

Accepted February 18, 1994.
1Contribution Number 4392 of the Utah Agriculture
Experiment Station. Approved by the director. Mention of
companies or products does not constitute endorsement by
Utah State University, Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, or Weber State University over similar products not
mentioned.
ZDepartment of Microbiology, Weber State University.
Ogden, UT 84408-2506.
1994 J Dairy Sci 77:1783-1789

1783

1784

MERRILL ET AL

of starter cultures, the physical properties of culture and allowed to ripen 45 min at 33.9"C.
Mozzarella cheese depend on the type of acid Fifty milliliters of diluted rennet were added to
used and final curd pH.
the milk. The three reduced fat curds (C:F of
After numerous preliminary trials were con- 1.6, 2.0, and 2.4) were cut 10 min after rennet
ducted for making a reduced-fat Mozzarella addition using 1.9-cm knives, and the refercheese, the manufacturing procedure described ence batch (C:F 1.2) was cut 50 min after
in this paper was selected as the best method rennet addition. After cutting, each vat was left
to retain moisture in the cheese and to reduce undisturbed for 15 min, followed by 30 s of
its tough and rubbery characteristics. We then gentle agitation every 15 min. The curd was
assessed the effects of reducing milk fat con- heated to 37.8'C over 10 min and was held at
tent on the stretch, melt, and cook color of that temperature until the whey titratable
Mozzarella cheese in manufacturing a reduced acidity reached .17; then the whey was
fat Mozzarella cheese acceptable for use on drained. Cheese curd was then cheddared by
pizza.
manually rotating curd patties every 20 min;
curd blocks were piled two deep on the first
turn. When titratable acidity reached .60,the
MATERIALS AND METHODS
curd was hand molded and stretched in fresh
82C water until the molten curd was smooth
Milk and Cultures
and elastic (approximate time, 2.5 min).
Milk from the Utah State University Dairy Molded curd was placed in a stainless steel
Products Laboratory was pasteurized at 80'C box (8.9 x 8.9 x 8.9 cm) and set in an ice bath
for 29 s and then cooled overnight to 4'C. to form a small loaf. Blocks of cheese were
Milk was standardized to a casein to fat ratio then placed in a saturated NaCl brine for 4 h at
(C:F) of 1.2, 1.6, 2.0, or 2.4. Milk was stan- 4'C. Each cheese was individually vacuumdardized by blending whole and skim milks of packaged and stored at 4C until tested. After
known fat and protein concentrations in ap- samples were removed, each cheese was
propriate proportions to give the desired C:F. vacuum-sealed again. Three cheeses were
Three milliliters of single strength calf chymo- made at each of the C:F.
sin (Lacto-Labo; Rhbne-Poulenc, Dange SaintRomain, France) was diluted with 50 ml of Chemical and Physical Analysis of Cheese
cold water prior to use. Direct-set lyophilized
Cheese was analyzed for moisture using the
culture, consisting of L helveticus LHlOO and
Streptococcus salivarius ssp. themphilus CEM microwave oven (Model AVC 80; CEM
TA06 1 (L.acto-Labo), were individually Corp., Matthews, NC), and fat was determined
weighed into sterile test tubes and stored at using a modified Babcock method (25) 1 d
after manufacture. Samples were analyzed for
4C until used.
melt by the modified tube test (22). and cook
color was determined by reflectance colorimeMozzarella Manufacturing Procedure
try (26). Melt and cook color methods were
Seven liters of milk were placed into each modified as previously described (19). Samples
of four stainless steel vats (21.6 x 21.6 x 21.6 were tested at 1, 7, 14, and 28 d of storage.
cm). The 1.2 C:F milk was used to make a
reference cheese with a fat content typical of Stretch Test
part-skim Mozzarella cheese. The other three
Stretch was determined using a modified
batches of milk were used to make a gradient
of cheeses with fat contents lowered to 50% of version of the helical viscometer method of
part-skim Mozzarella cheese. Three batches of Kindstedt et al. (15). Fifteen grams of shredded
milk (standardized to C:F of 1.6, 2.0, and 2.4) cheese were tamped into a 25-rnm x
were then acidified to pH 6.0 with 80% lactic 150-mm test tube and tempered in a 60C
acid diluted 1:2 (vol/vol) with distilled water. water bath for 10 min. A Brookfield DV 11+
All four cheese vats were placed in a water (Brookfield Engineering Laboratories, Inc.,
bath, and the milk was warmed to 33.9'C. Stoughton, MA) helipath viscometer fitted with
Each vat was inoculated with .75 g of each a T-bar spindle (?F with a 1.075 cm crossbar)
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 77, No. 7, 1994

1785

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MOZZARELLA CHEESE

TABLE 1. Mean percentages of fat, fat on dry basis OB). moisture, and moisture in the fat-free substance (MFFS) for
Mozzarella cheese made at different casein to fat ratios (CF).

C:F

1.2
1.6
2.0

2.4

FDB

Fat

SEM

19.3
15.0
12.3
10.3

.58
1.0
58
.58

41.7
31.5
25.4
22.0

Moisture

MFFS

SEM

-X

53.7
52.4
51.4
47.0

.09
.88
.61
.68

66.6
61.7
58.6
52.4

(96)
SEM
1.16
1.86
1.41
.%

SEM
.67
1.66
.52
1.21

teristics comparable with those of a part-skim

Mozzarella cheese (20, 21) was made with
modifications in the manufacturing procedure.
These changes in manufacturing procedures
included an elevated pasteurization temperature (80'C for 29 s), preacidification of milk to
pH 6.0 prior to setting with rennet, larger
cutting knives, reduced cooking temperature
(37.8'C), periodic agitation during cooking instead of constant stimng, and less frequent
turning during cheddaring. Other processing
methods that were tried without success at
retaining moisture in the curd included removing the curd at a high pH (low titratable acidity), reducing the cook temperature to 35.5'C,
and removing whey followed by addition of
Statistical Analysis
water during cooking.
However, reduction in the amount of fat
The cheeses were made and tested using a produced cheeses that had a greenish tint, aprandomized block design with repeated measparently because of fewer light-scattering
ures. Analyses of variance, conducted as a split
centers in the cheese. Moisture in the reduced
plot in time, were run separately for the depenfat cheeses ranged from 47.0 to 52.4% and fat
dent variables cook color, melt, and stretch.
There were three independent replicates for from 10.3 to 15.0% (Table 1) The reference
each C:F. Correlations, means, and analyses of cheese had higher moisture than usual because
variance were calculated using Jmpm software it was made using the modifications (such as
from SAS@ (12). Because time cannot be ran- shorter manufacturing time, elevated pasteuridomized, this design could also be analyzed as zation temperature, and lower cook temperaa split plot in C:F (i.e. two pseudo main plots). ture) to retain moisture in the lower fat
Therefore, separate error terms (A, B, and C) cheeses.
were used to determine significance of C:F,
time, and C:F by time interactions, respec- Stretch
tively.
Reduced fat Mozzarella cheeses showed a
significant decrease in stretch over time (Table
RESULTS
2). No significant difference in stretch occurred
between reduced fat cheeses and the part-skim
Cheese Manufacture
Mozzarella reference cheese. The decrease in
Mozzarella cheese produced at each of the stretch in all four cheeses was greatest during
C:F exhibited normal characteristics. A the first 7 d of storage (Figure 1). Cheese made
reduced fat Mozzarella cheese with charac- with a C:F of 2.4 (lowest fat and highest

was gradually submerged in the tempered

cheese until it reached the bottom. The
helipath stand was then turned off, and the
viscometer was adjusted to a speed of 1.5 rpm,
a full-scale reading was attained, and the
helipath stand was turned on. An IBMcompatible computer, equipped with DV
Gather+ version 1.0 (Brookfield Engineering
Laboratories, Inc., Stoughton, MA), was used
to take 120 readings, one every 5 s, while the
helipath raised the viscometer spindle out of
the tube. Relative peak areas were derived for
each 10-min measurement period. Readings
greater than 100 were adjusted to 100 when
relative peak areas were calculated.

Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 77, No. 7, 1994

1786

MERRILL ET A L

TABLE 2. Analysis of variance for stretch, melt, and cook color in Mozzarella cheese made at four different casein to fat
rations (C:F).
MS
~~

Source of variation

df

Replicate (Rep)
C:F
C:F x Rep (error A)
Time
Time x Rep (error B)
Time x C:F
C:F x Time x Rep (error C)
Corrected total

2
3
6
3
6
9
18
47

Stretch

WOY

'

1.08Ns
1.33"
1.65
87.37"'
.46
2.47NS
1.04

Melt

Color

1 ~07Ns
2.5oNs
.83
24.38***
.81
1.69**
.33

8.08NS
9.8gNS
4.78
61.35***
2.73
2.36Ns
2.23

1Not significant (P = .05).

* P = .05.
**P = .01.
***P = ,001.

protein) showed the least reduction in stretch

over the 28-d of storage.
Melt

Cheese made with a C:F of 1.2 showed the

largest increase in melt during the first 7 d and
had the greatest melt from d 7 through 28
(Figure 2). Melt increased throughout storage
in all of the cheeses. Overall there was no
significant difference in melt between cheeses
made at different C:F, although there were
some differences at various storage times (Table 2). Melt was significantly affected by time,
and the time by C:F interaction was signifi-

14

?X

Time (d)

Figure 1. Mean (HEM) stretch measurements (relative

peak area) of Mozzarella cheese made from milk with a
casein to fat ratio of 1.2, solid bar; 1.6, dark Striped bar,
2.0, open bar; and 2.4, light striped bar.
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 77, No. 7, 1994

cant, suggesting a difference in the way the

cheeses aged during storage. The melt of the
1.2 C:F reference cheese increased after 7 d of
storage and then remained constant through 28
d. In contrast, the melt of lower fat cheeses
increased gradually over 28 d.
Cook Color

Cook color for all cheeses increased steadily during storage (Figure 3), particularly between d l and 14. No significant differences
existed in cook color between cheeses of
different C:F, but a significant difference was
found over time (Table 2).

14

28

Time ( d )

Figure 2. Mean melt &EM) measurements (centimeters) of Mozzarella cheese made from milk with a
casein to fat ratio of 1.2, solid bar; 1.6, dark striped bar;
2.0, open bar; and 2.4, light striped bar.

PHYSICAL PROPERTES OF MOZZARELLA CHEESE

1787

strains of L. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus (10).

Ardo and Pettersson (1) studied the production
of a lowfat, semi-hard cheese and found that
addition of heat-treated L. helveticus enhanced
the peptidolytic activity during the first few
weeks, which they attributed to an aminopeptidase from the L. helveticus cells. This higher
peptidolysis, coupled with the reducing sugar
available in Mozzarella cheese, suggested an
increase in cook color for cheese made with L.
I
14
?X
helveticus. Mozzarella cheese made with single
' Time (dl
Figure 3. Mean &SEW cook color measurements of strains of L. heIveticus actually showed a deMozzarella cheese made from milk with a casein to fat crease in cook color, and cook color increased
ratio of 1.2. solid bar; 1.6, dark striped bar; 2.0, open bar; with time for cheese made with paired strains
and 2.4, light striped bar. b* = Yellow-blue on a Hunter of proteinase-positive L. helveticus and S.
Lab colorimeter.
salivanus ssp. themphilus (20).
As increasingly more fat is removed, Mozzarella cheese becomes tougher and more difficult to melt. This increased toughness of the
DISCUSSION
reduced fat cheeses can be related to the inA number of changes in the manufacturing creased protein concentration of such cheeses
procedure were used to retain moisture and to and distribution of moisture in the cheese mamaintain the desirable physical properties in trix. Studies of the microstructure of Mozreduced fat Mozzarella cheese. An elevated zarella cheese (18) showed that much of the
pasteurization temperature was used to dena- water, rather than being distributed evenly
ture some whey proteins, which are then throughout the cheese, is contained in columns
trapped in the curd matrix and aid in water between protein fibers. Also, within these
retention (23). Preacidification of milk prior to columns are the emulsified fat droplets, which
rennet addition was used to decrease clotting prevent the protein strands from coalescing.
These protein strands were observed by
time. A shorter coagulating time means the
curd can be cut more quickly, helping to trap Oberg et al. (18) to be homogeneous in appearadditional water and to increase moisture ance; thus, the moisture content of these
retention (2). Reduced cooking temperature, strands is assumed to be a function of the
larger cutting knives, and periodic agitation water-binding capacity of the proteins. Consewere used to create larger curd particles, thus quently, as fat is removed, these columns
decreasing syneresis and improving moisture would become more narrow, and the moisture
retention in the curd during cooking. Periodic, content of the cheese would be reduced acrather than continuous, agitation was also im- cordingly. It could be hypothesized that the
portant for reducing curd shattering because moisture content (expressed as moisture in the
fat free substance) would reach a minimal level
the larger curd particles were more susceptible.
based solely on water-binding capacity of the
Less frequent turning during cheddaring kept proteins. Inclusion of denatured whey proteins
the curd on top cool, slowing acid develop- in the cheese would then allow more moisture
ment. Slower acid development decreased rate to be retained in the cheese, as occurred in this
of whey expulsion, thereby retaining moisture study. In some earlier trials, we were able to
in the curd. The difficulty in retaining moisture produce reduced fat Mozzarella with high iniin reduced fat cheeses is well demonstrated in tial moisture contents, but large amounts of
Table 1; even with these changes, the reduced whey leakage continued after the cheese was
fat cheeses still had lower moisture contents packaged. This result suggests that the protein
than the control cheese.
fibers continued to coalesce and that water was
Some studies have attributed beneficial ef- being forced out of the fat and water columns
fects to pairing L. helveficus with S. salivari- until the solid fat droplets were sufficiently
ous ssp. thernwphilus. Strains of L. helveficus closely packed and the columns could not be
also exhibit greater peptidase activity than compacted any further.
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 77, No. 7, 1994

1788

MERRILL ET AL

The difficulty in melting reduced fat Mozzarella cheese has been observed by other
researchers. Mozzarella cheese made with
elevated moisture and fat on dry basis becomes
soft and difficult to shred (9, 17). High moisture Mozzarella made from reconstituted NDM
also has poor body characteristics (9). Tunick
et al. (27) reported that Mozzarella cheese
made with lower fat and moisture was too hard
and showed decreased meltability. In addition,
the lowfat, high moisture Mozzarella was comparable with part-skim Mozzarella reference
cheese only after 6 wk of refrigerated storage.
In this study, Mozzarella cheese was
manufactured with reduced fat, increased protein, and using L. helveticus instead of L.
defbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus in the starter culture. Throughout the 28 d of storage, all
cheeses in this study decreased in stretch and
increased in melt; the majority of change occurred in the first 7 d. These two measurements were strongly correlated, each being affected differently by proteolysis during the
first 7 d of storage (19, 21). The comparable
performance between reduced fat Mozzarella
and part-skim Mozzarella in this study shows
that an acceptable reduced fat Mozzarella
cheese may be possible without the addition of
fat substitutes.
CONCLUSIONS

A method was developed at Utah State

University for the manufacture of reduced fat
Mozzarella cheese that contained only 50% of
the fat content of part-skim Mozzarella. According to the new FDA food regulations,
cheese with a 25% lower fat content is classified as reduced fat and cheese with 50% less
fat as lowfat. Although the reduced fat cheeses
were more translucent, cheese made using this
method had melt and stretch properties similar
to part-skim Mozzarella cheese. Other properties, such as shreddability, formation of free
oil, surface drying, and burning, must be examined to determine suitability of this cheese
for commercial pizza manufacture. Further
work is also needed to scale the process to
commercial levels.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the National Dairy Promotion and

Research Board for funding this research and
Donald V. Sisson for his assistance with
statistical analysis.
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 77, No. 7, 1994

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Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 77, No. 7, 1994