pH prediction for a semi-batch cream cheese fermentation using a grey-box model

Abstract Cream cheese, a popular condiment, is widely used in people’s daily diet and in dessert making. To ensure high-quality cream cheese production, the pH value is generally used as the indicator to determine the end point of cream cheese fermentation. The inoculation time and time-dependent concentrations of biomass, lactose, lactic acid are all crucial for pH prediction. However, the inoculation time could vary for industrial applications with multiple fermenters. Moreover, the inoculation time impact on fermentation has not been investigated. This paper aims to build a cream cheese fermentation model predicting pH. The model includes a semi-batch kinetic model and an artificial neural network (ANN) model. The outcome of the model will help the cream cheese industries understand the inoculation time impact on fermentation time and organise better fermenter scheduling.