Studies on Quality Properties and Standards of Domiati Cheese

Domiati cheese is one of the most popular cheese varieties consumed in Egypt. It attracted the greatest attention of manufacturers, microbiologists, nutritionists and consumers because of its acceptable and favorable organoleptic properties. Domiati cheese is a variant and closely resembles Greek Feta cheese. It produced from buffalo' or cows' milk or their mixture and consumed either fresh or after pickling in salted whey for few months. Domiati cheese classified as white soft cheese produced in Egypt from raw milk with addition of high percentage of salt in the beginning of manufacturing process.Heat treatment of cheese milk cause several changes in cheese characteristics. Consequently, new regulation are now in force which necessitate application of heat treatment equal pasteurization for raw milk used in Domiati cheese manufacture which issued by Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality control. So that, use of starter cultures in Domiati cheese manufacture becomes important process to avoid the changes occurred in cheese made with heat treated milk.