The impact of calcium sequestration on the material and structural properties of acid milk gels and corresponding cream cheeses
General comments:
- The whole paper needs to be revised, it needs major revision
- Make sure of abbreviations that should be defined when they mention for the first time, such as EDTA in the abstract
- Any abbreviations should be defined when mentioned for the first time in abstract and introduction. After this, use the short definition
- Can you provide more details on the specific concentrations of EDTA used in the experiments? Why those values?
Specific comments:
Summary:
- Please change the title to Abstract
- Be careful with abbreviations
- Line 25-27: please rewrite to make it clear
Introduction:
- Line 38-40: Please rewrite
- Line 42: how pH ~5 is called mildly acidic and K-CN still stable. Please mention the reference!
- Line 51-52: rewrite. How notably and negatively are used back to back!
- Solubilisation -> solubilization in all the paper
- Same for Utilised -> utilized
- Line 99: Please confirm “equilibria”
- The introduction is missing some info regarding EDTA. It is not good to suddenly mention EDTA for the reader at the end as part of the objectives. Needs to have some info regarding this and its applications and previous literature that used it.
- Same for GDL
Material and methods:
- Do you think using milk powders and not liquid/ fresh milk would impact your findings?
- What was the size of the batch?
- Line 131: how long does it take to have moisture results from drying oven?
- Are you saying getting a pH of 4.6 takes 16 hours to get the acid gel using GDL?
- Please write the source, place of the spectrometer used for measuring Ca
Results and discussion
- Try to include more and deep discussion using previous literature
- Could there be other factors influencing the decrease in pH with higher EDTA concentrations?
- Line 235-236: reference is not shown!
- How did the authors ensure that the observed decrease in insoluble calcium was directly due to EDTA and not other components or processes in the milk?
- The study mentions that higher levels of EDTA resulted in lower pH and weaker gel formation. Can you clarify how the pH specifically influences gel strength and stability?
- How do the rheological properties of EDTA-treated gels compare to those of non-treated gels, and what practical implications do these differences have for cream cheese manufacturing?
Conclusion:
- How do your findings on the impact of EDTA on cream cheese composition and texture contribute to the broader field of dairy science and technology?
- What recommendations would you make for industrial applications of EDTA in cheese production based on your results?
- What additional experiments or analyses would you propose to further investigate the role of calcium and EDTA in cheese making?