Investigation of Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate Content and Evaluation of Microbiological Parameters of Fresh Kashar Cheeses

Food safety is important issue for consumers and recently the usage of food ingredients especially food preservatives are limited by regulations. However, some manufacturers use food preservatives instead of improving their hygienic production. Therefore, the levels of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate of 147 vacuum packaged Kashar (fresh) cheese samples produced in Black Sea Region, Turkey were investigated and some microbiological properties were determined. Research results demonstrated that the production of vacuumed Kashar cheese in Black Sea Region was not standardized for all production periods depending on the microbiological properties. Coliform and E. coli counts detected in the cheese samples showed that necessary hygienic conditions were not provided for Kashar cheese production. Staphylococcus aureus was not determined in the cheese samples. The sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate were analyzed by HPLC-DAD. Potassium sorbate levels (69.39 mg/kg) of Kashar cheese samples were determined to be lower than the maximum permitted concentration of Turkish Food Codex. Although the utilization of sodium benzoate is prohibited by the Codex, the average level of sodium benzoate of cheese samples was detected to be 68.63 mg/kg. Sodium benzoate can be naturally occurred in fresh cheese at concentrations of up to 50 mg/kg.