The influence of different starter cultures on cheese yield and mass loss during ripening period of white brined cheese

White brined cheese yield is an important economic indicator in cheese production and it is presented as an amount of product obtained from 100 liters of milk. Cheese yield is one of the keys to improve the economy of cheese production. This parameter depends mostly on the percentage of casein and milk fats in milk, because in the process of white brined cheese production 90-95% of the casein and 80-97% of milk fats are transferred from milk into cheese. Mass loss is characteristic phenomenon during ripening period and is most due to moisture loss. In this research work the influence of three different starter cultures of three white brined cheese variants (A, B, C) has been examined regarding the cheese yield and mass loss during ripening period. The starter cultures that were used in variant А (SMCH - 5) contained the following bacteria strains: Lb. bulgaricus, Str. thermophilus and Lb. acidophilus, the variant B (Choozit Feta A): Lac. Lactis ssp. lactis, Lac. lactis ssp. cremoris, Str. thermophilus, Lb. bulgaricus and Lb. helveticus and the variant C (MOTC 092 EE): Lac. lactis ssp. lactis, Str. thermophilus, Lb. bulgaricus, Lb. helveticus and Lb. casei. The impact of the above mentioned three different starter cultures was determined over the cheese yield and mass loss during the process of ripening of the white brined cheese. Keywords: starter cultures, cheese yield, mass loss, white brined chees