Prediction of the ripening times of ewe's milk cheese by multivariate regression analysis of capillary electrophoresis casein fractions.

The effect of the ripening time on the proteolytic process in cheeses made from ewe's milk during a 139-day ripening period was monitored by the use of capillary electrophoresis of pH 4.6 insoluble fraction. Totals of 18 and 21 peaks were recognized and matched in the electropherograms obtained with a fused-silica capillary and a neutral capillary (hydrophilically coated), respectively. These peaks correspond to intact ovine caseins and their hydrolysis products (alpha(s1)-casein I, alpha(s1)-casein II, alpha(s1)-casein III, alpha(s2)-casein, beta(1)-casein, beta(2)-casein, p-kappa-casein, alpha(s1)-I-casein, gamma(1)-casein, gamma(2)-casein, and gamma(3)-casein). The alpha(s)-caseins (alpha(s1)- and alpha(s2)-casein) displayed similar degradation pattern to one another, but different from those of beta-caseins (beta(1)- and beta(2)-casein). beta-Caseins were very much undergoing lesser degradation during the ripening time than alpha(s)-casein. Finally, partial least-squares regression and principal components regression were used to predict the ripening time in cheeses. The models obtained yielded good results since the root-mean-square error in prediction by cross validation was <8.6 days in all cases.