The b* of surface-salted cheese cra

The b* of surface-salted cheese crackers as influenced by different salt particle sizes/concentrations is shown in Table 2. There was a significant (P < 0.05) effect for treatment * time interaction, treatment and time (Table 3). The b* values for all treatments of the cheese crackers increased significantly (P < 0.05) from 1 week to 4 months (Table 2). This increase in yellowness was attributed to the effect of ingredients in the cheese cracker. At 4 months, cheese crackers containing 2%, 1.5% and 1% nano-spray dried salt had significantly (P < 0.05) lower b* values than cheese crackers containing 2% regular salt (Table 2). Riboflavin and carotenoids contribute to the yellowish color of cheese, and the degradation of these compounds during light exposure may result in discoloration of the product [21]. Similar changes in yellowish color were found in our study; it could be attributed to the amount of cheese (61%) used in the cracker formula. Nurul et al. [10] reported that yellowness ( b* ) tended to be higher in samples with low amounts of fish meat. Additionally, Kristensen et al. [22] reported that the havarti cheese packaged in modified atmosphere packaging (25% CO2 and 75% N2) and exposed to light significantly decreased in yellowness values when stored for up to 21 d at 51˚C.