Rheology of Reduced-Fat Cheese Containing a Fat Substitute

Abstract

To meet consumer interest in foods with reduced fat or low fat content, 1,257 prepared foods with reduced fat claims were introduced in 1992 in the United States, with dairy products accounting for a significant portion of these newly introduced reduced or low fat foods (Dairy Foods, 1993). In the category of traditional dairy foods, natural cheeses made from whole or partially skimmed milk contain a significant amount of fat, ranging from 20–35%. One of the popular semi-hard varieties of cheese, Cheddar, typically contains 32% fat, and consumer acceptability of this cheese is based on its sensory properties related to color, texture, and flavor. Production of acceptable reduced fat Cheddar cheese poses a challenge, since simple reduction of fat levels and increased heat treatment in cheesemaking to incorporate whey proteins to interact with the casein micelles results in a firm, dry cheese with off flavors (Emmons et al., 1980; Green et al., 1981; Lawrence and Gilles, 1987). The addition of heat gelled whey proteins in processed cheese results in a “grainy” texture due to the incorporation of large whey protein aggregates in the cheese (Kalab et al., 1987; Hill and Smith, 1992).