Application of self-organizing maps to evaluate the influence and behavior of the film formed during salting of Prato cheese

Abstract

Problems related to high blood pressure have led consumers to choose foods with low levels of sodium chloride, and an alternative to reduce the salt content of this salt is its partial replacement with KCl. In order to not affect the sensory properties of cheese, salting was performed using a solution containing 70% of NaCl and 30% of KCl in a static and dynamic system. During the salting process by immersion, the mass transfer is affected by the formation of a film on the cheese surface. The analysis of the diffusion of salts in the film can be performed using self-organizing map (SOM) combined with the Finite Element Method (FEM). Through these tools, a greater influence of the film was observed when the static system was applied and that the diffusion is different according to the studied position. On the biosolid sides the diffusion was more pronounced than in the center, indicating a decrease in the film thickness towards the edges. The SOM combined with 3D modeling showed to be an efficient tool to investigate the formation, influence and behavior of the film during the diffusion of Na⁺ and K⁺ on salting of Prato cheese.

Keywords:
neural networks; diffusion; finite element methods; simulation