STUDIES ON THE IODINATION OF CHEESE DURIN G CHEESE-MAKING PROCESS

Studies have been performed on the transfer of iodine labeled by I-131 into Edamer cheese both from salt baths containing iodate and from cu lture containing iodide. The results show that a homogeneous iodinatio n of cheese from salt baths does not occur. Apparently, iodate is redu ced and bound to proteins to a large extent, and as a consequence it c annot diffuse into cheese during ripening in the same way as sodium ch loride can. On the other hand, as expected, Edamer cheese could be hom ogeneously iodinated by adding iodide to the culture. About 10% of the absolute quantity of iodide added was found in the cheese. The quanti ty of iodine leached by the salt bath was very low. This implies that also in this case the iodine was bound tightly to proteins. Neverthele ss the addition of iodide to the culture is not a safe alternative for the practice instead of the iodination via salt baths. Iodine transfe r depends on each culture and single process parameters. As a conseque nce, faulty dosing of the very low quantities of iodide can not be exc luded.