Physical and compositional characteristics of cheese and yogurt made from partially demineralized milk protein concentrate

Abstract

The milk protein concentrate (MPC) has been extensively studied; however, the MPC partial demineralization through the diafiltration (DF) and its effect on MPC ability to produce milk coagulate products has not been fully explored; therefore, it was considered studying the MPC demineralization process with DF and evaluate the effect of this treatment on the compositional and textural characteristics of enzymatically and acid-coagulated products. The MPC of ultrafiltration was diafiltered by two cycles, later this MPC was used to make a fresh cheese, a set yogurt and stirred yogurt. The application of a single DF cycle removed 22.2% of the ashes and 8.12% of the MPC calcium, but no statistically significant differences were present (P> 0.05) between the application of two DF cycles. The cheeses with MPC undergone to one cycle and two cycles of DF were less hard and presented less resistance to chewing, and the set yogurt showed lower springiness values due a total solids and calcium content, that was affected by DF. These phenomena increased the coagulation time and the formation of weaker gels. The DF achieved the maximum milk demineralization in a single cycle.