Quality aspects of cheddar cheese obtained with milk pasteurized by pulsed electric fields

High voltage pulsed electric fields were used to pasteurize milk to obtain cheddar cheese. Two thermal pasteurization methods were also employed, and compared with the non-thermal treatment, in terms of some quality attributes of the derived cheeses. A cheese obtained from raw milk was used as the control. Some texture and sensory attributes were determined in order to verify whether the pulsed electric field treatment would produce a product of higher quality. Adhesiveness, cohesiveness, hardness and springiness, measured by a texture analyser, were the texture attributes compared. Hardness and springiness increased in cheese obtained using milk pasteurized by pulsed electric fields, while adhesiveness and cohesiveness were not significantly different (p < 0.05) between cheese obtained using milk pasteurized by pulsed electric fields and the equivalent processed from raw milk. Sensory scores showed significant differences (p < 0.001) between cheese obtained from milk pasteurized by pulsed electric fields and cheese obtained from raw milk. The use of milk pasteurized by high voltage pulsed electric fields to obtain cheese appeared to be a feasible option in order to improve quality of this important dairy product.