Shelf-life evaluation of portioned Provolone cheese packaged in protective atmosphere

The aim of this work was to evaluate the shelf-life of portioned Provolone cheese packaged in protective atmosphere using four different CO₂/N₂ gas mixtures (10/90, 20/80, 30/70 and 100/0 v/v) and at 4 and 8 °C, in order to simulate, respectively, the most common domestic and retail storage conditions. Control samples were vacuum-packaged. Furthermore, the acquired data were utilized to predict the commercial shelf-life of the cheese. The gas mixture made up of 30% CO₂ and 70% N₂ guaranteed portioned Provolone cheese the best preservability, since it was able to slow the proteolytic and lipolytic phenomena typical of cheese ripening more than all other gas mixtures. Furthermore, this mixture lengthened Provolone cheese shelf-life by 50% in comparison with vacuum-packaging, bringing it to 280 days.