Nutritional and dietetic quality of milk and traditional cheese made from the milk of native breeds of sheep and goats

ABSTRACT

Sheep and goats of native breeds provide milk rich in nutrients as a raw material for traditional products, especially cheeses available only in specific regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of the raw material for production of traditional fresh cheese (bundz) and the product itself made of milk from the Podhale Zackel sheep and Carpathian goat – both Polish breeds. The milk from the Podhale Zackels contained more than twice as much fat (7.30%, P ≤ 0.01) as milk from the Carpathian goats (2.82%) and it was richer in protein and lactose. The goat milk had twice as high a content (1.10%, P ≤ 0.01) of immunoglobulins compared to the sheep milk (0.58%). Higher levels of serum albumin (3.69%, P ≤ 0.05) and β-casein (58.89%, P ≤ 0.01) were determined in the Zackel milk. Podhale Zackel bundz was characterized by higher fat (24.92%, P ≤ 0.01) and protein (18.06%, P ≤ 0.01) content than the goat bundz (21.33%-fat; 16.74%-protein). In the sheep bundz, the content of CLA acid was significantly higher (2.23%, P ≤ 0.01), than in the goat bundz (0.28%). In sensory evaluation both cheeses received high marks (≥4.50) but the panellists preferred the aroma of the sheep bundz.

KEYWORDS:

• Milk
• traditional cheese
• sheep
• Carpathian goat
• Podhale Zackel
• genetic resources

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).