Yield improvement of the Italian fresh Giuncata cheese by laccase-induced protein crosslink

In this work a laccase mediator system (LMS) composed of LC and chlorogenic acid (CGA) was applied to the production of the Italian "Giuncata" cheese to evaluate its effect on the physicochemical characteristics, yield, texture, the colorimetric and sensory properties. Crosslinked proteins were detected and identified by SDS-PAGE and LC MS/MS analyses. LMS-treated Giuncata cheese showed high molecular mass oligomers (>50 kDa), composed of ?-, ?- and/or ?-caseins. Despite crosslinking, no apparent difference in milk coagulation properties was found between samples. It also showed increased yield (+12%), solids recovery (+21%), dry matter (+18%) and protein content (+13%) in comparison to the control sample. Conversely, the treated cheeses showed lower hardness and chewiness, whilst no differences occurred in cohesiveness and springiness. As regards sensory properties, the LMS treated cheese showed the lowest solubility score, in accordance with hardness, chewiness and resilience values.