Research article

PRODUCTION OF LOW-ENERGY YOGURT FORTIFIED WITH CHIA GUM AND STUDY OF ITS STORAGE CAPABILITY

Zainulabdeen Ali Kadhim AL-zurfi and Laith Fareed Hasan Al-Obaidi*

Online First: February 22, 2023


The current study aimed to produce a low-energy yogurt by using skim milk fortified with different proportions of vegetable gum (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 g gum / 1000 ml skim milk), in addition to the control treatment without any addition to milk. The effect of adding gum on the properties was studied. The effect of adding gum on the chemical, physical and microbiological properties of the resulting yogurt was studied. The results of the pH values and the total acidity percentage of the yogurt manufactured by adding vegetable gum indicated that there were no significant differences between the control treatment and the treatments to which the vegetable gum was added immediately after manufacturing, while a significant decrease was observed in the pH values with an increase in the total acidity percentage with an increase in the period of refrigerated storage for all treatments. The addition of vegetable gum extracted from chia seeds to skim milk improved the physical properties of yogurt, which included viscosity, automatic whey exudation, and water holding capacity during refrigerated storage periods of 21 days, compared with control treatment. The results of the microbial examinations also indicated a variation in the total count of bacteria for the yogurt fortified with vegetable gum as the total numbers of bacteria decreased with increasing the period of cold storage compared to the control treatment, which increased the total numbers of bacteria with increasing the period of cold storage. The results showed that the yogurt fortified with vegetable gum and the control treatment were free of coliform bacteria, yeasts and molds and psychrophilic bacteria, starting from the day of manufacture until the end of the 21-day storage period.

Keywords

skim milk, nutritional value, gum, shelf life