The Effectiveness of a Bilayer from Gelatin and Carboxymethyl Cellulose Supported with Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on Microbial Load of Soft Cheese Storage at Refrigerator Temperature

Abstract

Abstract The study was conducted in the laboratories of the Department of Food Sciences - College of Agriculture at the University of Tikrit for the period from the beginning of November 2021 to the end of October 2022 with the aim of testing the efficiency of wrapping soft cheese samples with gelatin film compounded with carboxy methyl cellulose derivatives (CMC) or combined with nanoparticles of zinc oxide. (ZnO-NPs) by determining the microbial counts after storage of samples for 35 days in the refrigerator temperature (4 ºC ± 2). The results showed that cheese samples were contaminated with total microbial counts at 35 days of storage for each T2 and T3 at 1.30, 0.70, CFU/g, respectively, compared with their bacterial count in the control group at 14 days storage, which was at 2.60 CFU/g. The coliform bacteria also appeared in T2 and T3 at Log 0.7 and 0.3 CFU / g, respectively, compared with their counts in T1, at 2.51 CFU / g, while the fungi values of treatment T3, T2 were log 2.3 and 0.0 CFU/ g, respectively, compared to their counts in T1, which accounts to log 2.20 CFU /g at 14 days storage.