Amino Acid Composition and Nutritional Evaluation of Proteins in Goat Cheeses Produced with Different Starter Cultures

This study investigated the influence of mesophilic starter (M), thermophilic starter (T), Lactobacillus Plantarum ssp. Plantarum ATCC 14917 (Lp), a mix of the M and T (M1), and a mix of the M, T, and Lp (M2) on protein amino acid composition and nutritional evaluation in goat cheeses during maturation. The results of our SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the high-molecular-weight proteins in M2 cheese mostly degraded, producing a relevant amount of low-molecular-weight proteins. We detected 16 amino acids in all cheeses. The total amount of essential amino acids/total amino acids (TEAA/TAA) value ranged between 38.98%–44.63%. The nutritional evaluation showed that the TEAA of all 60-day-old cheeses exceeded the recommended WHO/FAO value and the score of amino acid ratio coefficient (SRC) and essential amino acid index (EAAI) result indicated that cheeses produced using M and M2 exhibited higher nutritional value than other cheeses. In conclusion, M2 cheese contained a high nutritional value with various molecular-weight proteins.