Integrated Food Science The effects of packaging materials on the fatty acid composition, organic acid content, and texture profles of Tulum cheese Oktay Tomar , Gökhan Akarca , Veli GÖK , and M. Yusuf Ça˘ glar Abstract: In this research, Erzincan Tulum cheese was packaged in its original packaging material, the skin bag, small intestine, and appendix to observe the changes in its physical, chemical, and textural properties during storage day. Lactic acid% values increased in all Tulum cheeses throughout storage stage. At the end of the storage period, the highest value was determined in the sample flled in the small intestine (20.10%). All fatty acid values were increased, and the highest increase was identifed in oleic acid (C 18:1) (skin bag 2.18%), linoleic acid (18:2) (appendix 0.41%), and palmitic acid (C 16:0) (small intestine 0.34%), respectively. All organic acids increased in stored sample. The highest increase among organic acids was determined to be 4.47% in lactic acid.As a result of the Texture Profle Analyses (TPA), the hardness, and adhesiveness of Tulum cheeses increased during storage periods, whereas the springiness, cohesiveness, and chewiness values decreased. Gumminess value declined in the sample flled into the appendix (with a value of 36.01), whereas it increased in the other two samples.The highest increase in hardness values was 2,520.27 N at given storage time was in the samples flled into appendix while the highest adhesive values of -49.82 were determined in the sample flled into small intestine. Keywords: fatty acids, packaging, skin bag, texture, Tulum cheese Practical Application: Tulum cheese is usually produced by flling sheep or goat skin bag.Goat or sheep skin bag are not always available, and the amount of cheese produced in them is excessive. Therefore, cheeses were also flled to small intestine and appendix.At the end of the study,there were no negative efects on cheeses flled with intestine and appendix. The use of small intestine and appendix has helped to develop a product that will be appreciated by the consumers with no adverse efects in the physicochemical and textural properties of cheese. 1. INTRODUCTION Currently, over 100 types of cheese are produced in Turkey (Tomar, Akarca, Beykaya, & Ça˘ glar, 2018). The most-produced three cheeses are white cheese, Kasar cheese,and Tulum cheese. Tulum cheese is one of the traditional cheeses,usually made from raw sheep milk in Turkey (Tekin & Guler,2019).Also made from goat’s milk,combination of sheep’s and goat’s milk,or cow’s milk (Gürsoy, Küçükçetin, Gökçe, Ergin, & Kocatürk, 2018). Ripening is mostly done in a plastic barrel or goat skin bag (Tekin & Guler, 2019). Tulum cheeses are produced in every region in Turkey, it exhibits regional variations depending on the raw material, pro- duction method, structure, and ripening conditions (Kirdar, Kose, Gun, Ocak, & Kursun, 2015). Erzincan, Afyon, ˙ Izmir and Konya tulum cheeses are the most popular and most consumed tulum cheese types (Çetinkaya, 2008; Yerlikaya & Akbulut, 2019). Tulum cheese has a granular or open texture; is semihard and white or cream in color; and has a buttery taste and tangy favor (Çakmaçı, 2011). The color of Erzincan Tulum cheese is white- JFDS-2020-0865 Submitted 5/23/2020, Accepted 7/9/2020. Author is Tomar is from Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Science, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey. Author Akarca is from Engineering Faculty, Food Engineering Department, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. Author GÖK is from Ahmet ˙ Ipek Meat Co., Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. Author Ça˘ glar is from Food Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Istanbul, Turkey. Direct inquiries to author Tomar (E-mail: oktaytomar@hotmail.com). cream, high fat content with a hard structure, and in buttery taste (Çakmakçı, 2011). Tulum cheese types has a longer ripening pe- riod (over 3 months).It is produced by the local people living in the highlands from raw ewe milk with no heat treatment,particularly, during May and September and ripened in particular caves. How- ever, in recent years, the increasing demand of this cheese type has resulted in its production at the industrial level (Hayaloglu, Cak- makci, Brenchany, Deegan, & McSweeney, 2007). In the ripening process of cheese, microorganisms, particularly yeasts in the milk and at the ripening environment contribute to the ripening production. Mostly no additional starter culture is used in cheese production,thereby,its microbial content consists of the natural or wild microbiota of raw milk (Bergamaschi & Bittane, 2018; Kazancıgil, Demirci, Öztrük-Negi¸ s, & Akın, 2019; Öztürk & Akın, 2018). In the process starting from the flter of whey to the end of the ripening stage, the natural fora found in the cheese form the taste and aroma components that impart unique characteristics to this cheese through glycolysis (Niro et al., 2017; Ozturkoglu- Budak et al., 2016; Öztürk & Akın, 2018). Tulum cheese is tradi- tionally flled into skin bags produced from sheepskin is now flled into various packaging materials including plastic barrels, pitchers, intestine, and artifcial bags (Tomar et al., 2018). Skin bags mostly obtained from the skins of goats or sheeps (Hayaloglu, Fox, Guven, & Cakmakci, 2007; ¸ Sengül, Türko˘ glu, Çakmakçı, & Çon, 2001). The small intestine is an organ in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals (Yen & Wright, 2006). Appendix © 2020 Institute of Food Technologists® doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.15404 Vol. 00, Iss. 0, 2020  Journal of Food Science 1 Further reproduction without permission is prohibited