The visco-elastic behavior of the samples was determined by
oscillatory tests evaluating the elastic modulusG
0
and the viscous
modulusG
00
(Kealy, 2006). The tangent of phase shift or phase angle
(tand¼G
00
/G
0
) was also evaluated. All measurements were made in
duplicate at 20
C in a Haake RS 800 oscillatory rheometer equipped with a temperature control sensor DC50 using parallel plates
35 mm (PP 35/S), with a gap between plates of 1.5 mm. The surfaces
of both upper and lower plates were serrated to remove the possibility of slip at the boundary.
First, stress sweep tests (0.01e1000 Pa) were performed to
determine the linear viscoelastic range at a constant frequency
(1 Hz-6 28 rad s
1
); these tests were carried out using the control
cheese samples and the cheese containing the highest concentration of SPC added to select the maximum stress corresponding to
the linear viscoelastic range. The obtained value of 20 Pa was
maintained in the frequency sweeps carried out in the range of 0.1e
600 rad s
1
for all the tested samples.
In addition the apparent viscosity was measured with a rotational viscometer Haake (with a rotor 2) which has a shear rate of
3750 s
1
at 150.5
C.