Use of Sodium Substitutes in Cottage Cheese and Buttermilk

Twenty-four market samples of cottage cheese had an average sodium concentration of 4.91 ± 1.20 mg/g. Two samples of cottage cheese formulated to contain 1.1% "Lite" and Zyest, and having sodium concentrations of 3.23 and 2.54 mg/g had significantly lower flavor scores than a sample containing 1.4% NaCl and having 6.25 mg of Na/g. The Standard Plate Counts and the yeast and mold counts on the cottage cheese after storing 10 d at 4°C were not different between samples containing salt, salt substitute or salt substitute plus a dry yeast preparation. Psychrotrophic bacteria were more numerous in the samples containing the yeast preparation. Four samples of buttermilk containing .015% "Zyest 45-F" and .25% NaCl, .25% "Lite" and .015% "Zyest 45-F", .25% NaCl, or .25% "Lite" had comparable flavor scores. The sodium concentrations of the four samples were 1.096, .793, 1.125 and .771 mg/g, respectively. The growth of yeasts and molds in samples containing "Zyest 45-F" and "Lite" was slightly but not significantly greater than the other three samples. Psychrotrophic counts on buttermilk after 7 d of storage at 4°C were much lower than the original counts, but were not influenced by the additives used.