Possible inhibitory effect of microbial transglutaminase on the formation of biogenic amines during Trappist cheese ripening

ABSTRACT

Trappist cheese (semi-hard, rennet-coagulated cheese with round eyes) was manufactured and matured for 4 weeks at 12 ± 1°C, 85% relative humidity (RH). The effect of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) was followed by measuring the levels of free amino acids (FAAs) and biogenic amines (BAs) every 2 weeks during 4 weeks of cheese ripening. Results show that MTGase can decrease the cadaverine production by 30%, but only at the initial stage of ripening. Application of MTGase results in 49% less putrescine, 12% less tyramine production at the end of 4 weeks ripening time, and can decrease histamine levels by 8% after 2 weeks of ripening time in the examined semi-hard cheese type.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Trappist cheese
• biogenic amines
• cadaverine
• microbial transglutaminase

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank for the technical support of Georgina Lucsányi by Trappist cheese manufacture and Adrienn Domak for the assistance in microbiological analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.