Free fatty acid profiles of fermented beverages made from ewe's milk

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to estimate the level of the free fatty acids (FFA) in fermented beverages (yogurt, bioyogurt, sour milk and kefir) made from ewe's milk. Identification and quantification of FFA were performed by gas chromatography. It was found that FFA content in the fermented beverages was significantly affected by the kind of starter culture. Yogurt, as well as bioyogurt, possessed more lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic and oleic acids than kefir and sour milk. The inverse trend was found for acetic acid level. In the beverages produced using mesophilic cultures the amount of this compound was higher than in beverages containing thermophilic bacteria. Due to the fact that acetic acid was predominant among FFA, the highest total FFA was found for kefir and sour milk. It was also observed that the amount of most of the FFA on the last day of the storage period was lower than on the first day of analysis. © INRA, EDP Sciences, 2007.