Nutritive characteristics of probiotic Quarg as influenced by type of starter

Abstract

Quarg was manufactured, under laboratory conditions, by standard batch process, from two types of milk: I) partially skimmed, with 1.6% of fat and II) whole milk, with 3.5% of fat. As starters, two probiotic cultures were applied: I) DVS-Probio-Tec™ ABT-1, Lactobacillus acidophilus-5, Bifldobacterium-12, S. thermophilus and II) DVS-ProbioTec™ ABT-2, Lactobacillus acidophilus-5, Bifidobacterium-12 & thermophilus. Also, the traditional cheese culture (CH-N22) was used. The obtained Quarg samples were tested by standard methods in order to determine their nutritive characteristics. The results have shown that probiotic starter ABT-1 ensured the highest level of utilization of fat, proteins, lactose and phosphorus from partially skimmed milk. Probiotic culture ABT-2 was less effective, but combined with the traditional starter and applied to a whole milk could give Quarg with acceptable nutritive characteristics. When sensory characteristics of products were tested, it has been proven that the application of ABT-2 culture and combination of probiotic starters ABT-2 and traditional culture gave good products with typical mild flavour. On the contrary, inoculation with ABT-1 robiotic starter resulted in lower- quality products in case of both kinds of milk applied.