Heme iron fortified flavored milk: quality and sensory analysis

Abstract The fortification of dairy beverages is a widely developed strategy using non-heme or heme iron. Heme iron has a higher bioavailability. The investigation aimed to elaborate pasteurized milk with fortified chocolate flavor with heme iron that has good sensory acceptability. The preparation of the flavored milk was carried out based on the regulations and heme iron, obtained from a commercial source of whole blood of porcine origin, was added before the pasteurization process to achieve its complete dilution. The concentration of iron and chocolate flavoring was established as variables in order to evaluate the optimal formulation based on Sensory Acceptability (SA). The experimental design was a 32 factorial design in which eight formulations were established, which were sensory acceptability evaluated by a total of 35 school-age children, aged between 8 and 11 years using a five-point facial hedonic scale. The results of the analysis of variance and optimization of the response showed that SA was 4.71 (on a scale of 1 to 5) for a fortification of 6.76 mg Fe kg-1 sample and a chocolate concentration of 2.0 g kg-1 sample. The physicochemical characterization indicated a higher percentage of carbohydrates, a higher concentration of iron (9.3 mg Fe kg-1 sample) and vitamin C (349.0 mg kg-1 sample) with respect to fresh milk. According to the physicochemical and microbiological results, the approximate life time of the beverage was 5 days, which is in accordance with Peruvian regulations. These results showed a method of fortification of flavored milk that allowed the use of heme iron, whose content could contribute to the daily requirement of this mineral in children aged between 8 and 11 years old (8 mg of iron per day).