Effect of MAP on microbiological quality of Mozzarella cheese stored in different packages at 7 ± 1 °C.

Mozzarella cheese was placed in two types of packaging materials (Cryovac, P1 and linear low density polyethylene/BA/Nylon-6/BA/Low density polyethylene, P2) under 5 different atmospheres, air (A1), vacuum (A2), 100% CO2 (A3), 100% N2 (A4) and mixture of 50% N2 and 50% CO2 (A5). The product was evaluated periodically for microbiological quality. Among the different gases studied, A3 showed minimum microbial count during storage, thus proving superior followed by A5, A4, A2 and A1.