DAIRY PRODUCTS WITH HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS: METHODICAL ASPECTS OF QUALITY CONTROL

In order to expand the range of balanced, high-quality, and safe dairy products, constant work is required to create new technologies, control the quality, as well as to develop new methods for the identification of plant additives. The paper presents some results of the development and quality assessment of cottage cheese mousse with pumpkin puree using physicochemical methods and molecular genetic analysis. An analysis of organoleptic and physicochemical methods revealed that the quality and safety of Adagio pumpkin (S. rero.) corresponds with the State Standard 7975-2013 and Sanitary Regulations 2.3.2.1078-01. The authors introduce a new method for pumpkin puree production. An experiment demonstrated that pumpkin puree meets organoleptic and physico-chemical indicators stated in the requirements of State Standard 32742-2014. The composition of biologically active nutrients was determined as follows: the content of pectin substances was 2.27 g/100 g, fiber – 1.5 g/100 g, and β-carotene – 2.97 mg/100 g. The paper describes a scientifically-based formula and a new technology for the production of a high nutritional value product, i.e. curd mousse with pumpkin puree. The research also included a quality and safety assessment of the developed mousse. A molecular genetic analysis was used to identify pumpkin in the semi-finished product and dairy product. Based on the GenBank NCBI database, the matK chloroplast genome gene was chosen as the target gene. With the help of various software packages based on the matK gene, universal primers were developed and designed. Optimal parameters for amplifying fragments of species-specific pumpkin DNA were defined experimentally. Electrophoregrams were made to visualize the presence of pumpkin in the puree and cottage cheese mousse. As a result, the classical polimerase chaim reaction (PCR) method was recommended to identify pumpkin in food products with the determination of amplification products in agarose gel using primers developed on the basis of the matK gene of the chloroplast genome.