Detection of cheese origin and determination of their quantity with real time PCR method

There are about 200 varieties of cheese produced in our country. While some of these cheeses can thus be produced in modern enterprises, some are produced at the traditional small businesses. White cheese is most widely consumed cheese in our country considering Sensorial properties and consumptions habits, white cheese is defined in cheese standard as cheese produced from milk of cow, sheep, goat or their mixtures. In addition to defining the white cheese according to the chemical composition sold under different names, such as goat, cow or sheep cheese in the market; determining the origin of the milk used in the manufacture of these cheeses is also very important. But from the consumers' point of view, it is almost impossible to decide which milk was used for the production of a particular cheese. These can facilitate making the adulteration in cheese. Adulteration is the reduction of the quality of any material by addition of another substance or substitution of raw materials of low quality deliberately. The purpose of our study is to provide that both creation of data related standards by defining these cheese and prevent deceived the consumers by determining the types and the amount of milk in cheese which is indispensable of our breakfast. In our country, a comprehensive standard about products offered for sale as cow, sheep, and goats' cheese is not available. However, Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry was publıshed Turkish Food Codex Cheese (2015/6) notification according to the article 14 clause g ; in cheese production, when using milk mixture from different animal species, it should be noted with such terms ''sheep, goat and cow milk is produced'' next to the name of species is obtained from the milk used. But, in the notification no limititation was set about the amount of the origin of the milk used in cheese production as well as the writing of the type used in the production of milk. Therefore, manufacturer can use a variety of milk with different ratios when producing cheese and can sell the product with any name. In this study, 30 varieties of each kind of cheese including cheese of different brands on the market sold as cow, sheep, and goats' cheese totaling 90 varieties of cheese are obtained. These cheeses were maintained small pieces in vacuum packages at +4ºC. With the aim of determining content of cheese on the total dry matter, oil, water in oil-free cheese mass, protein, acidity, salt and pH analyzes were conducted. At the same time, cheeses offered for sale on fairly different prices from each other and under several different names (cow, sheep, and goat) on the market were made in determining the origin and quantity type of milk used in these cheeses were determined using Real Time polymerase chain reaction techniques. At the end of this study, the necessary data were obtained for the cheeses offered for sale with different names (cow, sheep, and goat) to be brought to a standard condition. At the same time, this study will contribute to the improvement of consumer awareness.