Uso de proteínas do soro do leite microparticuladas na fabricação de requeijão cremoso

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of substituting 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% (T1 to T5) of the enzymatic cheese curd with microparticulated whey protein (MWP) in Requeijão (spreadable processed cheese) formulations, with the objective of maintaining similar moisture (60 g.100 g-1 ), fat in dry extract (57.5 g.100 g-1 ), and pH (5.4-5.7) parameters to all final products. The experimental design was started with the production of microparticulated whey protein (MWP), followed by the formulation of five different Requeijão treatments (T1 to T5, 0% to 100% substitution of enzymatic cheese curd), and the analyses of composition, rheology, color, spectroscopy, and texture of the products. Based on the evaluated attributes, changes were primarily associated with color, viscosity, melting degree, and texture. Colorimetric analyses highlighted those formulations with higher MWP content (T5) became reddish (a* 0.89 ± 0.22) and yellowish (b* 20.03 ± 0.22), along with a decrease in luminosity (L* 79.52 ± 0.39), reflecting an increase in the Browning Index (BI) (29.19 ± 0.49), ascribed to Maillard reactions between carbohydrates and proteins present in this product. A lower melting degree (108.57 ± 1.29) and elasticity index (0.58 ± 0.01) were observed in samples with higher MWP content due to the reduced casein-casein interactions, making the formulations more fluid and less elastic. In the texture analysis, it was also noted that the addition of MWP increases the hardness and gumminess attributes of the final product. Rheological analyses demonstrated that viscosity decreased with increasing up to 75% enzymatic cheese curd substitution, T4 (1.42 ± 0.05 Pa.s) but increased in the formulation with 100% substitution, T5 (3.93 ± 0.23 Pa.s). These changes may be associated with the replacement of casein by MWP, resulting in T5 being a product with very specific emulsifying features compared to the other formulations, which still contain some concentration of casein derived from the enzymatic cheese curd.