EFFECT OF FERMENTED WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE ON TEXTURE OF IRANIAN WHITE CHEESE

The influence of fermented whey protein concentrate (FWPC) added before and after formation of cheese curd on the textural characteristics of Iranian white cheese was studied. The FWPC, prepared from whey obtained during cheese making, was added at different levels 5, 10, 15 and 20% (v/v) after (A) or before (B) cheese curdling. The changes in rheological parameters of cheeses were determined before and after 1 month of ripening. It was found that both incorporation level and stage of addition of FWPC (A and B) caused significant effects on texture profile analysis of cheeses. Increasing the level of FWPC in B group, except samples containing 10% FWPC, in contrast with A cheeses led to considerable increase in moisture and decrease in hardness and chewiness. Samples containing more than 15% FWPC had undesirable texture and were too soft. All experimental cheeses exhibited a decline in values for each rheological parameter after 1 month of ripening. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Perhaps the biggest story in the dairy industry in the past couple of decades has been the rise of new applications for whey and whey proteins. Once considered a waste product in the cheese manufacturing process, whey and whey protein products today are used for a wide range of functional and nutritional properties. In the cheese industry, particularly in soft cheese varieties, whey proteins have shown good applications to replace caseins as they act as fat replacer and bind more water than caseins, which results in softer cheeses. Therefore, this study was attempted to investigate the impact of fermented whey protein concentrate on textural attributes of Iranian white cheese.