Production of functional white-brined cheese by the replacement of milk fat with grape seed oil

Cheese is one of the valuable dairy products which are consumed a lot in Iran and in the world. Due to increasing fat-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and obesity, replacement of cheese with oils containing functional fatty acids and less saturated fatty acids have been seriously taken into consideration in recent years. The aim of this study was the partial replacement of milk fat with grape seed oil which contains essential and unsaturated fatty acids for the production of a functional cheese.

Fresh milk was prepared from Maku farms and after separation of milk fat, it was standardized by grape seed oil, Olitalia trademark, and cream with the ratios of 25:75, 50:50 and 75:25. Then, Cheese samples were produced according to general industrial method. A control cheese sample was produced from whole milk. Physical and chemical properties of cheese samples including pH, acidity, fat, salt, moisture and sensory characteristics during the 60 days of ripening of cheese were measured according to Iranian National Standard Organization test methods, no. 2852, 1809, 760, and 4938 respectively. Measuring lipolysis index and fatty acid profiles were done through Nunez et al. and gas chromatography method respectively.

The results of this research showed that there was no significant difference between pH, acidity, moisture and salt content of samples substituted with grape seed oil and control cheese sample (p <0.05). But the effect of ripening time on mentioned properties was significant. All samples containing grape seed oil had more essential fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids and less saturated fatty acids compared to the control, the amount of linoleic acid in control sample and samples containing 25%, 50%, 75% of grape seed oil, were 3, 17, 20 and 35 percent and the amount of oleic acid, 22, 26, 27.5 and 29.5 percent, respectively. The results of sensory evaluation of all treatments showed that in the term of texture, control sample cheese had the highest score, but cheese contains 75 percent grape seed oil gained highest score in color, odor and taste. In term of overall acceptability samples that contain 75% grape seed oil had more score compared to other samples.

The results of this research showed the feasibility of substitution of cheese fat with grape seed oils for the production of more healthy, nutritional and functional white brined cheese.