Functional Pecorino cheese production by using innovative lamb rennet paste

• L. acidophilus, and a mix of B. longum and B. lactis were loaded into alginate beads and incorporated in lamb rennet paste.
• Probiotic rennet paste was used to produce Pecorino cheese.
• A probiotic cheese able to deliver encapsulated probiotic up to 60 days of cheese ripening was produced.
• Beads disaggregation yielded free cell of probiotics into the cheese matrix up to 120 days of ripening.
• Free cells of probiotic influenced the proteolytic process during cheese ripening.

The effect of type of lamb rennet paste and of encapsulated probiotics in the rennet on the maturing process of Pecorino cheese was studied. Different types of rennet paste were obtained from lamb fed artificial milk, or artificial milk with Lactobacillus acidophilus, or artificial milk with a mix of Bifidobacterium longum and Bifidobacterium lactis; moreover aliquots of these rennets were added with encapsulated cells of L. acidophilus or of a mix of B. longum and B. lactis. Experimental rennet pastes with and without encapsulated probiotics were used for the production of Pecorino cheese characterized for the proteolytic and lipolytic pattern at 120 days of ripening. High probiotic viability in cheese ripened at 120 days sustained the proteolytic process; in particular probiotic strains influenced peptidase activities and the free amino acid profile of Pecorino cheese. Lipolysis in cheese seemed to be influenced greatly by the enzymatic pattern carried out by rennet paste.Industrial relevanceThe use of alginate beads containing probiotic could be promising to produce innovative lamb rennet paste for probiotic cheese manufacture. Moreover, alginate beads in cheese undergo a disaggregation with advancing ripening so that the free probiotic cells could participate in the biochemical processes of maturing.