Enriching of goat milk mozzarella cheese with soluble fiber from acacia senegal var. kerensis

Abstract

Mozzarella cheese is prepared using milk from various herbivores. Mostly, it is prepared using milk from sheep, cow and goat. However, due to consumers‘demand for healthier foods, cheese processors have been innovatively preparing unique cheeses. Mozzarella cheese is one of the preferred ingredients for use on pizza. Goat milk is a good source of protein and calcium, possessing unique characteristics with a high proportion of small milk fat globules that contain a higher concentration of short chain, medium chain, and polyunsaturated fatty acids than cow‘s milk. Its use in Mozzarella cheese can therefore impart significant health benefits to consumers. However, despite these unique qualities, goat milk is underutilized in Kenya and therefore, enhancing it with soluble fiber from gum arabic will expand the health benefit. Gum arabic is an excellent source of soluble dietary fiber, which can be used to boost fiber levels in cheese and other dairy products. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the feasibility of enriching goat milk Mozzarella cheese with soluble fiber from Acacia senegal var. kerensis without altering adversely its functionality and sensory properties. Acacia senegal var. kerensis powder at 2, 3 and 4% was incorporated into the goat milk mozzarella cheese during the salting process at room temperature (20 to 25 oC). The functional properties of the cheese; meltability, stretchability and free oil formation were determined. Sensory evaluation was conducted using untrained sensory panel to evaluate the consumer acceptability of the made cheese. Keeping quality was also determined through total viable counts (TVC), Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeast and molds counts and coliforms count following approved Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods. The results indicated that the use of gum arabic in Mozzarella cheese up to a level of 3% improved the stretchability and meltability while reducing the free oil formation phenomenon. Compared to the control there was no significant reduction (P ≥ 0.05) in fat content as well as the moisture content of the cheese with addition of gum arabic . However, there was a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in protein content and an increase in fiber content of the resulting cheese. Overall liking was best for samples containing gum arabic at a level of 3%. Bacterial load at the beginning was below 2.0 log cfu/g for TVC, LAB and yeast and molds and below 1.0 log cfu/g for non-fecal coliform counts for all samples. Nevertheless, during storage, the load for all microorganisms analyzed increased steadily to reach 5 to 8 log cfu/g. Resulting shelf life was 8 days for all cheeses based on TVC. However, based on nonfecal coliforms count, the cheese containing 3% gum arabic gave the longest shelf life of 5 days. The results of this work indicate that the use of gum arabic enriched goat milk vii Mozzarella cheese with soluble fiber hence improving its nutritional quality as well as its functional properties. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first report on the functional and sensory characteristics of goat milk mozzarella cheese containing gum arabic from Acacia senegal var. kerensis