THE USE OF A BLEND OF MILK INGREDIENTS AND DIFFERENT PALM OIL FRACTIONS IN PROCESSED CHEESE FORM

The objective of this research was to study the effect of using unhydrogenated palm oil fractions on processed cheese properties. Five treatments of processed cheese were manufactured using hydrogenated palm kernel oil (HPKO), palm kernel olein (PKO), double fractionated palm olein (DFPO), mixture of HPKO and PKO (1:1) and mixture of HPKO and DFPO (1 :1). Results showed that using of PKO and DFPO slightly decreased pH values of processed cheese and had no effect on moisture, fat, TN and salt contents. PKO cheese was lighter whereas DFPO cheese was more yellowish as compared with other treatments. Addition of DFPO to formula of processed cheese decreased the texture profile analysis hardness and increased the meltability values. The scores ofsensory evaluation of HPKO and PKO cheeses were similar and higher than those ofDFPO cheese. It is suggested that processed cheese can be produced by using palm kernel olein instead of hydrogenated palm kernel oil.