Abstract
The current study was carried out to evaluate the quality of cottage cheese available in different areas of Peshawar. The aim of the study was to assess the microbial, physiochemical and sensory characteristics of the selected cheeses. We found that cheese selected from Board bazar (40%) were maximally contaminated with Salmonella on MacConkey Agar and minimum were recorded in Tehkal Region (0%). On same Agar high percentage forEscherichia coli was observed in samples from Hashtnagri (40%) and on tryptose agar results were quite high for Salmonella as compared to E. coli. In physiochemical analysis high pH was observed in samples taken from Warsak Road (6.84) followed by Hashtnagri. High moisture content was observed in samples taken from Saddar Bazaar (51.70%) followed by Tehkal Region (50.94%) while the high Ash content was found in Charsadda Road (1.81%) samples followed by Hashtnagri (1.76%). The highest fat content was observed in samples taken from Chowk Yaadgar (17.92%) and maximum protein content was found in samples taken from Warsak Road (25.40%) followed by Hashnagri (24.24 /0). In sensory analysis the maximum mean score of judges for color, Flavor, Texture and overall acceptability were observed in Board Bazaar (7.97) followed by University Town (7.89) and the minimum values were given to the samples taken from Hashtnagri (7.57). Hence it was concluded that the samples taken from Hashtnagri and Chowk Yadgaar were mostly found contaminated with Salmonella and Escherichia coli and physiochemical properties as well as sensory qualities of cheese purchased from Charsadda road shows good results.