EFFECT OF HYDROCOLLOIDS AS FAT REPLACER IN DEVELOPMENT OF LOW FAT MOZZARELLA CHEESE

Abstract

Cheese is the coagulated dairy product enriched with milk proteins, various minerals, vitamins and fat. Mozzarella cheese is white glossy soft, unripened cheese which contains 30-40% milk fat. Commonly 75% mozzarella cheese used as ingredient on pizza topping because of its stretching and melting characteristics but its high fat contents can cause serious health risks like cardiovascular problems and obesity. The current study was aimed to produce low fat mozzarella cheese by using hydrocolloid as fat substitute to overcome such health risks and quality defects on fat reduction. The prepared cheese was investigating the influence of hydrocolloid for its functional, proximate quality and sensory attributes of the developed product. The cheese was prepared at 2% fat level followed by the treatments used as @ 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3% levels of guar gum in 100 ml of milk. The results showed that the use of hydrocolloid affect significantly (p<0.01) the cheese composition, functionality, texture, sensory characteristics and yield. The composition of cheese increased while functional attributes and yield decreased significantly (p<0.0.1) on fat reduction. However, the increment of hydrocolloid improved these aspects with positive values on fat reduction. The control cheese samples showed the lower value of hardness while guar gum containing cheese had the higher hardness value that was deceased gradually on guar gum concentration. On sensory assessment full fat cheese awarded maximum scores then other treatments while the sample containing 0.1% guar gum was awarded comparable scores to full fat cheese. Hence, it was concluded that hydrocolloid particularly guar gum can effectively be used up to 0.1% to improve the quality defects of low fat mozzarella cheese.