Chemical and microbiological status and volatile profiles of mouldy Civil cheese, a Turkish mould-ripened variety

The objective of this study is to characterise the gross chemical and microbiological status and identify the volatile compounds of mouldy Civil cheeses. A total of forty-one samples were surveyed, and gross compositional status of the cheeses was (as mean values): 6.5 for pH, 6.2% for fat-in-dry matter, 51.8% for moisture and 15.3% for water-soluble nitrogen (as% of total nitrogen). Chemical composition of the cheese samples varied widely. Mouldy Civil cheese has similar pH values and moisture contents when compared with blue-type cheeses, but it has distinct feature for fat contents. The microbiological counts of the samples were found to be high and some samples contained coliform bacteria. A total of 95 volatiles, including esters (28), acids (6), ketones (12), aldehydes (3), alcohols (15), terpenes (10), sulphur compounds (3) and miscellaneous (18), were identified in the volatile fractions of the cheeses, and principal volatile groups were esters, alcohols and ketones.