The influence of milk fat and starter cultures on cholesterol content and nutrient characteristics of Quarg cheese

The effect of milk fat content and different starter cultures on cholesterol content and other nutrients characteristics of Quarg cheese was investigated in this study. Quarg samples were produced from milk of 1.6%(w/w), 2.2%(w/w) and 3.2%(w/w) fat content by using traditional culture or traditional culture in combination with probiotic starter culture in ratio 1: 1. The sample produced from milk with 1.6%(w/w) fat with traditional culture contained 26.18mg/100g of cholesterol, while the cholesterol content of the same sample produced from 3.2%(w/w) fat content was 57.46mg/100g. The cholesterol/fat ratio is maximum in low fat Quarg (5.65) in contrast to Quarg from full fat milk (3.38), in which the fat/protein ratio is approx. two-fold higher, while the isocaloric value cholesterol/energy ranged from 249mg/1000 kcal to 274mg/1000 kcal.