Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. This paper describes a preliminary studies aiming to compare volatile fractions of Oscypek and oscypek-like cheeses with SPME-GC/TOFMS to determine the possibility of applying for future routine investigation of adulteration of Polish PDO cheeses.

Material and methods. For sensory and volatiles analysis four different cheeses were compared: Oscypek cheese prepared according to PDO regulations and three oscypek-like cheeses: type “CM industry” – produced from pasteurised cow milk in dairy plant, type “EM-industry” – produced from pasteurised ewe milk in dairy plant and type “CM-shep­herds” – produced from unpasteurised cow milk in shepherds huts. Isolation of volatiles was performed with PDMS/CAR/DVB fiber. Compounds identification was performed using gas chromatography coupled to time of flight mass spectrometry.

Results. Headspace SPME-GC/TOFMS method revealed a total of 51 compounds in Oscypek and oscypek-like cheeses representing nine chemical groups such as: free fatty acids, esters, ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, furans and furanones, phenols, sulfur compounds and terpenes. Results showed that original Oscypek, PDO labeled was represented by the largest number of volatiles identified compared to oscypek-like cheeses, which also showed a relationship with sensory analysis where Oscypek has been described as a cheese with mostly developed flavour bouquet. Additionally it could be observed that cheeses made from unpasteurised milk using traditional method of preparation in shepherds huts (Oscypek and CM-shepherds) had superior volatile profiles and enhanced aroma compared to cheeses made industrially.