Improving Textural and Sensory Characteristics of L ow-Fat UF Feta Cheese Made with Fat Replacers

Abstract

Saturated fat consumption increases the risk of bot h coronary and cancer diseases. Therefore, fat reduction in UF-Feta cheese ( ≈ 45% FDM) is favorable but, unfortunately, it has some negative effects on the texture and sen sory characteristics of the cheese. In this research, response surface methodology was employed to study the probably improving effects of WPC80 (0-20 gr kg -1 ), lecithin (0-2 gr kg -1 ) and a mixture of xanthan and guar (0-1 gr kg -1 ) on sensory and instrumental texture characteristi cs of low-fat UF-Feta cheese made from 6% fat retentate. Lecithin and xanthan-gu ar had positive and WPC80 had negative effects on hardness, chewiness, and gummin ess of the cheeses. Furthermore, results showed lecithin had negative effects on tas te, acceptance, and appearance and positive effects on sensory texture. The taste was improved by WPC and xanthan-guar enhanced sensory texture and acceptance scores. Fin ally, multiple response optimization method was used to determine optimized formula of l ow-fat cheese (19.47 gr kg -1 WPC80, 0.5 gr kg -1 xanthan-guar and 0.13 gr kg -1 lecithin). A cheese sample produced based on optimized formula and full fat cheese had similar s ensory and instrumental texture. Keywords : Optimization, Response surface methodology.