Abstract
The key trends driving the global dairy market are shelf-life extension and generating consumer demand for new products. Healthy diets and special foods meet the criteria based on the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score, while other factors affecting the digestibility and actual biological value of the protein are not considered. Express biological evaluation tests are very important for choosing the optimal formulation and efficient manufacturing process in order to maximize the biological value (BV). Such tests adequately represent the food properties: safety, nutrition value, digestibility, health benefits, etc. This study deals with the procedures for the quick biological evaluation of dairy products using indicator organisms. We adapted the relative biological value evaluation procedure, involving Tetrahymena pyriformis, for curd (cottage cheese) and curd products. The experiments showed that the most significant parameters are the milk pasteurization temperature and the curd heating temperature. The full factorial experiment identified the optimal curd production conditions to maximize the relative biological value (RBV): 81 °C milk pasteurization temperature and 54 °C curd heating temperature using the acid method of curd production. With these parameters, the RBV is at least 282%. Biotesting confirmed the optimal curd product component ratio of 60% curd to 40% fermented dairy beverage.