Soft goat cheese enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acids: manufacture, physico-chemical and sensorial characterizations

The consumer is particularly attentive to nutritional factors which can affect its health. The quantity and quality of lipids retains especially his attention. Milk and dairy products are considered rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA). One way to decrease SFA and increase polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in dairy products is to modify the composition of milk by the feeding of animals. Objective: The aim of this work was to manufacture and characterize soft goat cheese made with milk enriched with PUFA. Methods used: Two groups of 30 Alpine dairy goats were fed with a traditional ration (control) or a ration enriched with PUFA (extruded linseed). The milks were characterized: total solids, contents in protein, fat and mineral, fatty acids profile and fat globule size distribution. The cheese making parameters were supervised. The cheese proteolysis and lipolysis were monitored during ripening. Sensory evaluation was also performed. These experiments were performed in triplicate. Results: Milk acidification and cheese drainage were similar. The biochemical modifications (proteolysis and lipolysis) during ripening were also equivalent. In the opposite, an increased cheese yield of 0.9 % was observed with the enriched milk due to its higher fat and protein contents. In the same time, the cheese composition after 30 days of ripening was different. Thus, it was determined an increase in the concentration of PUFA (for example, the concentration of C18:3 (n-3) increased from 0.8 to 1.74 %) and a decrease in SFA (66.8 to 60.4 %). The results of the sensorial analyses were similar for both cheeses. Conclusion: This work showed that it was possible to make soft goat cheese with milk enriched with PUFA. The parameters of the cheese making and the final quality of the cheese were positively affected. The development of this type of cheese is in progress to be commercialised.