Production and characterisation of reduced-fat and PUFA-enriched Burrata cheese

Burrata is an Italian fresh 'pasta filata' cheese made from cow's milk and cream that is rapidly spreading in Europe. It has very high caloric content, and a technological protocol was developed for producing a reduced-fat type and fortifying it with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of vegetable origin. A satisfactory reduced-fat prototype was obtained by using a 14% fat cream, which was specifically developed by diluting double cream with a suspension of carob seed flour. The composition of the new cheese changed with respect to the control, but the sensory characteristics were not impaired. Moisture increased from 62.6 to 68.4%, fat on dry matter decreased from 59.1 to 34.7%, and the caloric content decreased from 1060.8 to 718 J/100 g. Proteolysis and lipolysis were not affected by the technological modifications: after 7 d storage, the electrophoretic pattern of caseins and the free fatty acids profile of experimental and control cheeses were not significantly different. Fortification of reduced-fat Burrata with PUFA was obtained by using two commercial formulates available at a compatible price with the current economic values of the cheese. The two formulates derived from flaxseeds and Carthamus tinctorius oil and allowed enrichment in C18 : 3 : n3 (alpha-linolenic acid, ALA), and 9cis, 11trans- and 10trans, 12cis-conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), respectively. Fortification was easy to perform under a technical point of view, but the negative sensory impact limited fortification at a maximum of 7.0 mg g(-1) fat ALA and 6.8 g(-1) fat CLA.