Abstract

To assess the level of contamination of milk products such as, Çökelek cheese (n = 25), Lor cheese (n = 25) and Torba (strained) yoghurt (n = 25) samples were examined for microbiological and chemical quality. In Çökelek cheese samples, 96, 56, 56, 56, 24, 8, 8, 4, 4 and 44% of yeast and mould, total coliform, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella andStaphylococcus aureus, respectively, were found as contaminants. In Lor cheese samples, 92, 68, 68, 68, 12, 12, 12, 4, 4 and 56%, respectively, of these contaminants were observed, and in Torba yoghurt samples, the percentage was 84, 60, 60, 60, 44, 8, 12, 4, 4 and 32%, respectively. The mean weight of dry matter (DM), fat, protein, ash, salt and titratable acidity of lactic acid (LA) were found to be 60.83 ± 10.18, 15.43 ± 4.61, 25.95 ± 7.10, 4.04 ± 0.67, 2.90 ± 0.61 and 0.49 ± 0.18 g/100 g, respectively and the mean pH was 3.83 ± 0.70 in Çökelek cheese and the same constituents were 34.59 ± 4.11, 4.78 ± 1.00, 14.98 ± 2.82, 2.86 ± 0.35, 1.69 ± 0.30 and 0.57 ± 0.13 g/100 g, respectively, in Lor cheese with a pH of 4.85 ± 0.66. The mean values of DM, fat, protein, ash and LA content in Torba yoghurt were 22.15 ± 4.39, 8.20 ± 3.34, 9.93 ± 1.66, 0.96 ± 0.36 and 1.59 ± 0.33 g/100 g, respectively and the pH was 3.75 ± 0.33. These data show poor standardisation and safety of these products.

Key words: Çökelek cheese, Lor cheese, Torba yoghurt, quality.