highly significantp <0.0001
A step-wise regression model of response surface for cheese sensory score (Y) was calculated according to following equation: Y=84+A+0.88B−1.63C+3.50AB−3.00AC+5.25BC−8.38A 2 −2.13B 2 −2.13C 2 In the quadratic regression model, the ANOVA analysis ( Table 5 ) revealed that the second-order response surface model was highly significant ( p <0.0001), which indicated that the model was appropriate.