Free fatty acids profiles and cholesterol content in probiotic Pategrás Argentino cheese

MERCANTI, DIEGO JAVIER; PEROTTI, MARÍA CRISTINA; BERNAL, SUSANA MARGARITA; MEINARDI, CARLOS ALBERTO; ZALAZAR, CARLOS ANTONIO

San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina

Simposio; International Symposium on Biotechnology. Food, Health and Environmental Applications. II Argentinean-Italian Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria; 2004

Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos (CERELA) y Planta de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI)

(Modalidad de la Presentación: PÓSTER)Publicación del resúmen (castellano) y del trabajo completo (inglés) en CD-ROM.RESUMENIn the present work the lipolysis and cholesterol content of Pategrás Argentino cheeses were studied. Cheeses were made at a pilot plant scale with single commercial probiotic cultures added using two different addition methodologies (experimentals). Two strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus and one strain of Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei were tested. Cheeses without probiotic bacteria were used as controls. Free fatty acids (FFA) from C6:0 to C18:2 were quantified at 3 and 60 days of ripening by gas chromatography (GC). The chromatographic profiles were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) in order to detect differences between control and experimental cheeses. Cholesterol concentration was determined by GC. There were not significant differences between control and experimental cheeses during ripening, both in the FFA profile and the cholesterol concentration. Thus, the incorporation of probiotic bacteria did not have an effect on lipolytic profiles and cholesterol levels. Results obtained from the present study could indicate that the probiotic strains assayed are not strongly lipolytic and they are not able to metabolize cholesterol during ripening in this type of cheese. Key words: probiotic bacteria, Pategrás Argentino cheese, lipolysis, cholesterol, ripening.