Cheese production
Cheeses were produced in Moorepark Technology Limited plant (Moorepark, Co. Cork, Ireland) from milk standardised to a protein-to-fat ratio of 0.92. Briefly, the two cheese varieties with different calcium levels (difference ~ 340 mg/100 g) were produced: one with high-calcium (HC) and one with reduced-calcium (RC) content. The pasteurised milks for HC and RC cheese were inoculated at 31 °C and 28 °C, respectively. The milk for the HC cheese was inoculated at normal milk pH of around 6.7, whereas the milk for the RC cheese was pre-acidified to pH 6.05 with food-grade lactic acid prior to the inoculation of starter cultures comprising of 