Biochemical characteristics of reduced-fat cheese made from high-heat treated goat’s milk supplemented with Penicillium candidum

NO ABSTRACT AVAILABLENovel reduced-fat goat-cheese (R) was produced from high-pasteurized milk using Penicillium candidum as an adjunct. A full-fat goat-cheese (F) from pasteurized milk without mold addition was produced for comparison reasons. Physicochemical analyses of the two cheeses were performed through the 14-d period of ripening. The effect of P.candidum on proteolysis of goat-cheese caseins and the production of hydrophilic and hydrophobic peptides during cheese ripening were investigated. To our knowledge, similar results for reduced-fat, mold-ripened, goat-milk cheeses have not been previously reported before. R-cheese exhibited a higher organoleptic score and developed properties similar to Kopanisti, which is a Protected Designation of Origin Greek soft cheese with specific intense flavour manufactured from raw milk without the use of starters. Moreover, R-cheese had significantly higher moisture, protein in dry matter and water soluble nitrogen contents than F-cheese and was less adhesive. The high-pasteurization improved the texture and cheese yield, while the use of P. candidum as an adjunct improved the flavour, increased and accelerated proteolysis in R-cheese. According to the results, the technology for R-cheese employed in the present study can be easily adopted and could be used to produce a reduced-fat goat-cheese

Massive fish mortality in Ismarida Lake, Greece: identification of drivers contributing to the fish kill event

During the end of August 2013, a massive fish mortality occurred in Ismarida Lake, a small and shallow system of Northern Greece, where approximately 10-18 tons of euryhaline fish died. This study attempts to describe the event of this fish kill or Massive Fish Mortality (MFM) that occurred in Ismarida Lake during the night of August 28, 2013, and to identify the possible drivers that may have triggered this event. A combined hydrographic, ichthyological and phytoplankton survey were carried out along with a toxicological analysis. Finally, the study proposes both short-term and long-term measures for the management of both quality and quantity of the water (ground and surface) resources in the broader basin of Ismarida Lake

THE COMBINED USE OF WHOLE-CELL PROTEIN EXTRACTS FOR THE IDENTIFICATION (SDS-PAGE) AND ENZYME-ACTIVITY SCREENING OF LACTIC-ACID BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM TRADITIONAL GREEK DAIRY-PRODUCTS

A total of 148 strains of lactic acid bacteria from the ACA-DC Collection were examined in this study. They were all isolated from traditional Greek dairy products such as yoghurt and cheese and were assigned to the genera Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc and Streptococcus. By use of traditional phenotypic methods 65 strains were identified to the species level; the remaining 83 strains were partially characterised (genus level). The SDS-PAGE technique of whole-cell proteins was evaluated as an advanced tool for the identification of lactic acid bacteria. Therefore protein fingerprints were registered for all strains and compared to a large number of lactic acid bacteria reference strains stored in database format. In most cases the SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the phenotypic identification results. With only a few exceptions, all partially characterised strains were identified to (sub)species level. In order to quickly reveal characteristics which could be important for their use as starter cultures in dairy fermentations, it is shown that the bacterial cell-free protein extracts could simultaneously be screened for peptidase and esterase activities using synthetic substrates. Obvious differences among the strains, the groups of strains as well as on the genus level were observed