Fatty acids profile and lipids health indices of white brined cheese produced from Lacaune sheep milk

The objective of the study was to determine the composition of fatty acids in the milk of Lacaune sheep and produced cheese from it. The study was performed with ewe's milk of Lacaune breed, reared in the herd of the private farm in a village of Yambol municipality. Milk samples were collected in the morning and the evening, proportionally to the milk yield, according to rules for milk sampling. To perform an analysis of the fatty acid composition of the Lacaune sheep milk, three milk samples were collected at three different times from April to June 2017. From the milk samples have been made Bulgarian white cheese. The fatty acid composition of raw milk and cheese samples was determined at 60 day of producing. The most abundant fatty acids in milk and cheese were saturated fatty acids (82.37% and 77.42% in the milk and cheese, respectively). Monounsaturated fatty acids (14.31% for raw milk and 16.54% for white brined cheese) were the most numerous in terms of isomers, but mostly in low concentration. The atherogenic index was calculated on the obtained values for lauric (C12:0), myristic (C14:0) and palmitic (C16:0) acids and the unsaturated fatty acids. The data for the raw sheep milk was - 2.16 and for produced white brined cheese - 1.63. Omega 6/Omega 3 ratio varies from 1.33 for raw milk and 1.00 for white brined cheese, which is within the range of the optimal values for healthy nutrition.