CARBON-DIOXIDE MEASUREMENT IN SWISS-TYPE CHEESES BY COUPLING EXTRACTION AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

The microbial production of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Swiss-type cheeses is one of the major events during ripening. To better control this fo rmation of eyes, it is necessary to be able to evaluate the CO2 in the body of the cheese. In this paper, we propose a method to liberate th e CO2 from the cheese sample dispersed in a citric alkaline solution i n a blender and to quantify the liberated gas, by acidification, by th e direct coupling between the extraction and a gas chromatography anal yser. The proposed method has a linearity between 0 to 10 mmol l-1 of CO2, a coefficient of variation of 1.20% and a good repeatability.