Role of fat and emusifying salt in requeijão cremoso analogs

• Grant number: 05/02052-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: January 01, 2006
• End date: September 30, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Walkiria Hanada Viotto
• Grantee: Walkiria Hanada Viotto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

'Requeijão cremoso' is a typical brazilian spreadable processed cheese, which shows ample acceptance on the national market. In the last years, it has been observed an increasing interest for cheese analogs or imitation cheese. The use of cheese analogs has increased mainly due to cost reductions, which can be attributed to their manufacture simplicity and to the substitution of milk ingredients for cheaper vegetable ingredients. In this work, 'requeijão cremoso' analogs will be manufactured from commercially available anhydrous ingredients (calcium caseinate, vegetable or milk fat and emulsifying salt). The effect of the type of fat (anhydrous milkfat, modified vegetable fat or vegetable oil) and of the type of emulsifying salt (sodium citrate, sodium polifosfate or dissodium phosfate) on the rheologycal, sensorial and functional characteristics of the analogs will be studied, as well as the effect of these variables on the mechanisms of peptization and creaming. The experimental design will be a complete factorial design. Nine treatments will be carried out in triplicate, giving 27 experiments. Samples of cheese analogs will be analysed for chemical composition, degree of casein dissociation, melting capacity, instrumental color, texture profile, melting profile (differencial scanning calorimetry), fat particle size, rheologycal properties, sensory characteristics and microstructure. (AU)