Composition of goat and sheep milk products: An update

The aim of this study is to update the values concerning nutritional components for sheep and goat dairy products. The bibliography examines first the main biochemical constituents of sheep and goat milk products but also the more specific components with potential nutritional impact and lastly it gathers information on the relationship between cheese and milk compositions and the impact of technologies. Since the composition of French small ruminant cheeses is not well established, with composition tables being old and lacking information, recent studies have been conducted in France to investigate the nutritional characteristics of sheep and goat milks and cheeses on a large scale. Goat milk cheese sampling was representative of French production, taking into account the variability linked to geographic origin, dairy or on-farm transformation and type of cheeses. Fresh lactic cheeses made with raw (6 samples) or pasteurised (6) milk, ripened lactic cheeses made with raw (11) or pasteurised (6) milk, spreads (4), soft ripened cheeses (6 “Chèvre Boite or “Brique” type cheeses) and 4 bulk raw milks were sampled twice in a summer–autumn period. These 86 samples were analysed for their nutritional value. The impact of the technological process was assessed with, for example, its effect on mineral and vitamin B content. With respect to sheep, 5 representative samples of milk were collected, just before cheese making, in the 3 main French traditional areas of dairy sheep production. The sampling was carried out 4 times in the year. The objective was to explore the variability of the nutritional characteristics of the original milk. The cheeses made with these milks were analysed after ripening with a double objective: to specify their nutritional content and to assess the relationship between milk and cheese content. Some preliminary results are given concerning fatty acids.