Method for modifying hygienic, physico-chemical and sensory properties of cheese by controlling the redox potential

13:

• A method for manufacturing a ripened cheese having enhanced organoleptic properties, which consists, during one of the steps of the manufacturing method, in inoculating a dairy mixture with one or more lactic bacterial strains, and in carrying out a step of ripening the manufactured cheese, and which is characterized in that one or each of the following steps is carried out:
• a) prior to the inoculating step, the dairy mixture is processed with a processing gas comprising a neutral gas or a reducing gas or a mixture of such gases so as to obtain a desired redox potential Eh value for the dairy mixture which is less than the value obtained when the dairy mixture is in equilibrium with the air;
• b) all or part of the ripening step is carried out under a reducing ripening atmosphere.

14:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein said reducing ripening atmosphere is obtained using a reducing gas, or using a mixture of a neutral gas and a reducing gas.

15:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein, for the purposes of carrying out all or part of the ripening step under a reducing atmosphere, the cheese is placed, after its manufacture, in a chamber or else a packaging which is leaktight and which contains such an atmosphere.

16:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein said desired redox potential value is less than about +250 mV.

17:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 16, wherein said desired redox potential value is at least about 100 mV less than the value obtained when the dairy mixture is in equilibrium with the air.

18:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 16, wherein said desired redox potential value is negative.

19:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein the inoculation of the dairy mixture is carried out indirectly due to the fact that one or more successive precultures are carried out beforehand in order to constitute the inoculum which will be used to inoculate the dairy mixture, and wherein the preculture is also processed by processing its growth medium with a pre-processing gas which makes it possible to obtain a redox potential value which is less than the value that would be obtained in the absence of processing.

20:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein one or more of said processing or pre-processing gases or ripening atmosphere is hydrogen or a mixture of gases containing hydrogen.

21:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein one or more of said processing or pre-processing gases or ripening atmosphere comprises hydrogen and/or nitrogen and a supplementary gas which is acceptable from the point of view of said cheese under consideration.

22:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 21, wherein the supplementary gas is chosen from inert gases, in particular argon and helium, and from oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and mixtures thereof in any proportions, preferably from carbon dioxide and oxygen, and mixtures thereof.

23:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein a part of the ripening is carried out conventionally under air or under another atmosphere, and a part of the ripening is carried out under said reducing ripening atmosphere.

24:

• The method for manufacturing a ripened cheese of claim 13, wherein the cheese is subsequently conserved under a controlled atmosphere until its best before date (“BBD”) or its use by date (“UBD”).