Relationships between cheese composition, rheological and sensory properties highlighted using the BaGaTel database

The BaGaTel database, guided by an ontology of dairy gels, has been developed to organise and integrate data on dairy products (process, composition, structure, nutritional, sensory and environmental quality), using a common vocabulary and metadata organisation. BaGaTel was queried to explore relationships between composition, rheological properties and sensory perception in 68 model cheeses from six different projects. Principal component analyses were performed on the total set of 68 samples and on sample subsets. Sensory hardness was well explained by the low moisture-in-non-fat-substances ratio. As expected, salty taste was correlated with salt content but, interestingly, in cheese with a low amount of salt, salty taste was less intense at low water content and was perceived better with increased chewing activity. In cheeses with a high amount of salt, salty test was less intense at high protein content. Salty taste was also influenced by lipid content and correlated with fat perception. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.