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Explore Milk and Dairy Products: Sensory, Physicochemical Characteristics, and Processing...
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Explore Milk and Dairy Products: Sensory, Physicochemical Characteristics, and Processing Technologies

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Dairy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 962

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giuseppe Natrella

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Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: dairy science; food safety; dairy technology; sensory properties; GC-MS; LC-MS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Michele Faccia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: food biotechnology; dairy science; milk; milk quality; dairy management; dairy technology; milk proteins
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The dairy industry is facing new challenges, aiming to meet consumers’ evolving expectations (food with higher quality standards, safety, and sustainability). To reach their needs, researchers must focus on i) intrinsic biodiversity of milk and cheeses; ii) high variety of the technological processes; and iii) replacing synthetic ingredients with natural ones (i.e., also considering by-product valorization for the circular economy). This adaptability facilitates the development of products that align more closely with consumer preferences while ensuring higher safety standards and embracing environmentally sustainable practices in line with the European Green Deal principles. Some innovation in this sector focuses on reducing fat content, replacing synthetic additives with natural ingredients, and enhancing the compositional profile to offer nutritionally balanced products—all without compromising the distinctive sensory attributes that make dairy products widely appreciated. This evolving landscape presents challenges and opportunities for researchers, calling for novel scientific insights and technological advancements to shape the future of dairy production.

Dr. Giuseppe Natrella
Prof. Dr. Michele Faccia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • dairy product and process innovation
  • high-quality dairy products
  • nutritional improvements
  • sustainability
  • food safety
  • sensory characteristics
  • cheese and milk improvements
  • dairy waste circular economy
  • by-product valorization

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 1462 KiB  
Article
Physico-Chemical, Microbiological and Sensory Characteristics of Cabra del Guadarrama Cheese and Other Cheeses from Different Spanish Autochthonous Goat Breeds
by Teresa Herrera, Aida Pérez-Baltar, Laura Ortiz, Pablo Letón and Eugenio Miguel
Foods 2025, 14(13), 2368; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14132368 - 3 Jul 2025
Viewed by 220
Abstract
Physico-chemical analyses, fatty acid profiles, microbiological analyses and sensory characteristics (assessed by trained judges and by consumers) were carried out on four types of goat cheese produced in artisanal cheese factories using raw milk from different autochthonous Spanish goat breeds (Malagueña, Florida, Murciano-Granadina [...] Read more.
Physico-chemical analyses, fatty acid profiles, microbiological analyses and sensory characteristics (assessed by trained judges and by consumers) were carried out on four types of goat cheese produced in artisanal cheese factories using raw milk from different autochthonous Spanish goat breeds (Malagueña, Florida, Murciano-Granadina and Cabra del Guadarrama). The cheeses studied were different in fat, protein, salt, pH, moisture, acidity and color due to the different production technologies and the properties of the milk of each breed. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were the predominant fatty acids in all the goat milk cheeses studied. Cabra del Guadarrama Cheese (CGC) and Malagueña Cheese (MC) showed an n-6/n-3 ratio < 4, and MC was found to have the lowest atherogenic and thrombogenic indices. CGC had a lower fat content than the rest of the cheeses studied. The fatty acid profile of CGC was more similar to MC than to Florida Cheese (FC) and Murciano-Granadina Cheese (MGC). MGC had a higher atherogenic and thrombogenic index, a higher PUFA n-6/n-3 ratio than the rest of the cheeses studied and a higher fat content. Therefore, CGC, MC and FC had a healthier lipid profile than MGC. The texture properties of CGC and FC were more similar to each other than to those of MC and MGC (harder cheeses). Sensory analyses performed with trained judges were in accordance with instrumental texture parameters. Consumer acceptability was similar for all the cheeses under blind conditions and only under informed conditions did consumers score FC significantly higher than MGC. In a rank test FC was chosen as the better cheese for a greater number of consumers both in blind and in informed conditions. The provision of information improved the overall liking of Cabra del Guadarrama Cheese and worsened that of Murciano-Granadina Cheese. The high quality of the cheeses confirms the need to raise consumer awareness of autochthonous goat breeds to increase the consumption of these products in order to contribute to the preservation of these breeds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Explore Milk and Dairy Products: Sensory, Physicochemical Characteristics, and Processing Technologies)
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14 pages, 1696 KiB  
Article
Development of Multiplex qPCR Method for Accurate Detection of Enzyme-Producing Psychrotrophic Bacteria
by Kidane Yalew, Shuwen Zhang, Solomon Gebreyowhans, Ning Xie, Yunna Wang, Jiaping Lv, Xu Li and Xiaoyang Pang
Foods 2025, 14(11), 1975; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14111975 - 3 Jun 2025
Viewed by 527
Abstract
Microbial detection in milk is crucial for food safety and quality, as beneficial and harmful microorganisms can affect consumer health and dairy product integrity. Identifying and quantifying these microorganisms helps prevent contamination and spoilage. The study employs advanced molecular techniques to detect and [...] Read more.
Microbial detection in milk is crucial for food safety and quality, as beneficial and harmful microorganisms can affect consumer health and dairy product integrity. Identifying and quantifying these microorganisms helps prevent contamination and spoilage. The study employs advanced molecular techniques to detect and quantify the genomic DNA for the target hydrolytic enzyme coding genes lipA and aprX based on the multi-align sequence conserved region, specific primer pair, and hydrolysis probes designed using the singleplex qPCR and multiplex qPCR. Cultured isolates and artificially contaminated sterilized ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk were analyzed for their specificity, cross-reactivity, and sensitivity. The finding indicated that strains with lipA and aprX genes were amplified while the other strains were not amplified. This indicated that the designed primer pairs/probes were very specific to the target gene of interest. The specificity of each design primer pair was checked using SYBR Green qPCR using 16 different isolate strains from the milk sample. The quantification specificity of each strain target gene was deemed to be with a mean Ct value for positive pseudomonas strain > 16.98 ± 1.76 (p < 0.0001), non-pseudomonas positive strain ≥ 27.47 ± 1.25 (p < 0.0001), no Ct for the negative control and molecular grade water. The sensitivity limit of detection (LOD) analyzed based on culture broth and milk sample was >105 and >104 in PCR amplification while it was >104 and >103 in real-time qPCR, respectively. At the same time, the correlation regression coefficient of the standard curve based on the pure culture cell DNA as the DNA concentration serially diluted (20 ng/µL to 0.0002 ng/µL) was obtained in multiplex without interference and cross-reactivity, yielding R2 ≥ 0.9908 slope (−3.2591) and intercepting with a value of 37, where the efficiency reached the level of 95–102% sensitivity reached up to 0.0002 ng/µL concentration of DNA, and sensitivity of microbial load was up to 1.2 × 102 CFU/mL. Therefore, multiplex TaqMan qPCR simultaneous amplification was considered the best method developed for the detection of the lipA and aprX genes in a single tube. This will result in developing future simultaneous (three- to four-gene) detection of spoilage psychrotrophic bacteria in raw milk. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Explore Milk and Dairy Products: Sensory, Physicochemical Characteristics, and Processing Technologies)
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