Evaluation of Various Emulsifying Salts Addition on Selected Properties of Processed Cheese Sauce with the Use of Mechanical Vibration Damping and Rheological Methods

The scope of the study was the employment of an innovative method beneficial to evaluate the impact of various emulsifying salts (ES) addition on selected properties of processed cheese sauces (PCS). The ES applied were disodium hydrogenphosphate (DSP), tetrasodium disphosphate (TSPP), pentasodium triphosphate (PSTP), sodium salt of polyphosphate n (-) 20 (POLY) and trisodium citrate (TSC). Moreover, the examined effect was observed in two groups of samples, (i) PCS with non-adjusted pH and in (ii) PCS with adjusted pH. The hardness of the samples was influenced by the type of the applied ES, pH, and storage period. The PCS produced with DSP:TSPP (1:1; without pH adjustment) exhibited the higher hardness which was also confirmed by the increasing samples viscosity and storage modulus. The results obtained by the mechanical vibrations damping analysis were analogous to rheological analysis. Generally, it was found that more viscous PCS exhibited "better" vibration damping properties, which was reflected by a shift of the first resonance frequency peak position to lower frequencies. In case of all investigated samples it was verified that the increasing storage period caused increasing stiffness and led to a shift of the first resonance frequency peak position to higher frequencies.