The Chemical and Microbiological Properties of Ricotta Cheese Supplemented With Curcumin and Bifidobacteria

Production of Ricotta cheese has been considered to be one of the economic ways for the utilization of whey. The aim of this study was investigating the possibility of improving the quality attributes of Ricotta cheese by using curcumin, and incorporating Bifidobacteria, with monitoring the changes of cheese quality and the survival of bifidobacteria during storage period. Four treatments were made to determine the effects of curcumin on the chemical properties of Ricotta cheese stored for 14 day refrigerated condition. Addition of 2% curcumin to Ricotta cheese affected significantly (p < 0.05) total protein, titratable acidity, lactose, fat and ash contents. These parameters were increased while cheese yield decreased gradually during storage period. Ricotta supplemented with curcumin was characterized by increasing phenol compounds (PC), antioxidant activity % (AA) and scores of organoleptic properties. Curcumin-treated probiotic Ricotta gained the highest PC, TAA. Curcumin could be considered as a good source of total phenolics. Also, high retention of antioxidant activity in curcumin-treated Ricotta could be related to the stability of the curcumin. Organoleptic properties of Ricotta cheese revealed that all curcumin-treated samples gained higher scores as compared to untreated curcumin treatment (control). Also, it was characterized by high counts of Bifidobacteria during storage period. It could be concluded that functional Ricotta of acceptable composition and acceptable quality can be made by the addition of Bif. infants and curcumin.