A sensitive HPLC method to detect hen's egg white lysozyme in milk and dairy products

Because of the lytic activity on the cell wall of bacteria like Clostridium tyrobutyricum, hen's egg white lysozyme is used in cheese manufacturing to prevent late blowing. A HPLC method capable to quantify as low as 0.8 ppm lysozyme in milk and cheese is proposed. Lysozyme was extracted with 1 M NaCl at pH 6.0 and the extract was deproteinized at low pH values, reaching a recovery up to 90%. Reversed-phase HPLC was performed on a polymeric column and monitoring lysozyme under fluorescence detection (excitation at 280 nm and emission at 340 nm). The repeatability of this determination tested on a 15-month-aged hard cheese and expressed as relative standard deviation was 1.47 (n = 6) and no interference of peptides formed during ripening was observed. Four commercial preparations of egg white lysozyme gave a similar fluorescence response and the partitioning over cheese and whey was studied with one of them. About 80% of the lysozyme added to the cheesemilk at concentrations up to 80 ppm was retained in the cheese and the concentration factor of lysozyme from the cheesemilk to the cheese proved to be 8.2 on average. This HPLC method and the microbiological assay using Micrococcus luteus were compared in cheese analysis, proving the former to be more accurate and reliable than the latter. Eighteen commercial samples including both generic cheeses and cheeses having protected designation of origin, all of them not declared to contain lysozyme, showed concentrations of this enzyme ranging from 0 to 111 ppm. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.