Relationships between animal species (cow versus goat) and some nutritional constituents in raw milk farmhouse cheeses

The objective of this study was to specify the relationships between animal species (cow versus goat) and the contents of fatsoluble constituents (fatty acids, carotenoids, retinol and -tocopherol) in raw milk farmhouse cheeses. Four hundred and thirty-two farmhouse cheeses (74 farms×6–7 cheeses), including 306 cow’s milk cheeses and 126 goat’s milk cheeses, produced in real herd management conditions throughout the year, were collected. The conditions of milk production were identified beforehand by means of surveys. In order to limit the confounding effects related to the management practices specific to each animal species, the effect of animal species was studied only within cheeses associated with conditions of milk production common to both animal species. Except for C8:0, C10:0 and -carotene, and to a lesser extent C4:0, the levels of which in cheese clearly differed according to the animal species, the variability within species was higher than the variability between species. Caprine milk fat was on average richer (P < 0.001) in C8:0, C10:0, C18:2n−6, retinol and -tocopherol (>30% richer) and to a lesser extent C6:0, C12:0 and C18:0 (from 8 to 25% higher) than bovine milk fat. On the other hand, bovine milk fat was richer (P < 0.001) in C4:0, trans-11 C18:1, cis-9, trans-11 C18:2, xanthophylls and -carotene (>30% richer) and to a lesser extent C14:0, C16:0 and C18:3n−3 (from 16 to 23% richer). Caprine milk fat was completely devoid of -carotene. In conclusion, the results of this work indicate that, under real herd management conditions, the animal species (cow versus goat) is a strong influencing factor of the nutritional composition of cheese. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.