DETERMINATION OF FREE FATTY ACID CONTENT OF MACEDONIAN WHITE BRINED CHEESE

Abstract

The main objective of this scientific research was to determine the free fatty acids content of Macedonian white brined cheese. Four variants of white brined cheese were selected and analysed for concentration of free fatty acids. The results of free fatty acids content which were obtained from the analysed cheese samples, define the Macedonian white brined cheese as a typical cheese, in which all free fatty acids were determined, with the exception of the following free fatty acids: valeric acid, caproic acid and α-linoleic acid. The detected free fatty acids in the tested cheese variants were present with different but approximate parameter values. From the detected free fatty acids, the concentration of palmitic acid was highest in all examined cheese samples with values from 34.40±0.2 mg% to 36.10±0.1 mg% and the concentration of butyric acid was at lowest level from 0.01±0.003 mg% to 0.02±0.003 mg%). The concentration of saturated fatty acids in all examined cheese samples was from 69.32±0.42 mg% to 70.76±0.72 mg% and the concentration of non-saturated fatty acids was from 29.24±0.55 mg% to 30.68±0.67 mg%). The concentration of free fatty acids in examined cheese samples was statistically significant at level p<0.05.