Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical quality and protein profile of fermented dairy products obtained by kombucha starter culture at different fermentation temperatures. Sample produced at 37ºC have significantly longer fermentation time than sample produced at 42ºC. Protein profile analysis revealed more stable α and β casein fractions compared to other protein fractions during milk fermentation. These results indicate that fermented dairy products produced by kombucha at 37ºC and 42ºC could be less allergenic than milk and suitable for special allergenic nutrition. Especially sample fermented at 37ºC had lower content of α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin than sample produced at 42ºC.

INTRODUCTION

Research in the field of functional foods is of great interest in human nutrition. Fermented dairy products certainly hold important role in this field. Different fermented dairy products may have influence on allergenic properties of milk due to the process of fermentation by specific starter cultures. Consequently, biochemical changes of milk components during fermentation have been widely studied. Lactic acid bacteria showed only weakly proteolytic activity. Surprisingly they do cause significant degree of proteolysis in different fermented dairy products (1). Klaenhammer et al. (2) and Haandrikman (3) provided detailed review of the properties of the lactic acid bacteria proteolytic systems. The proteolytic system is composed of a proteinase which is involved in the initial cleavage of casein, peptidases which hydrolyse the large peptides thus formed and transport systems which are involved in the uptake of small peptides and amino acids.

Table 1 shows characteristics of the major proteins in cow`s milk (4). Milk contains certainly more than 100 different proteins, usually are classified into two major fractions: caseins ( αs1-, ...