The Feasibility of Manufacturing Low Fat Pizza Cheese by Use of Pre- Gelatinized Corn Starch

In this study pre-gelatinized corn starch was used in order to improve the sensory and physicochemical properties of low fat pizza cheese. Therefore, the effect of three independent variables including low fat milk powder (45-100%), fat (0-45%) and pregelatinized corn starch (0-10%) on physicochemical properties of low fat pizza cheese was evaluated using mixture statistical design by design expert software. Fifteen treatments were tested and according to the results the used statistical design was successfully applied for evaluation and optimization of the formulation of low fat pizza cheese. All physicochemical properties were significantly affected by the mixture components. As the results showed 67.56% low fat milk powder, 27.93% fat and 4.5% starch were the optimal quantities in the formulation. Melt ability, acidity, elasticity, firmness, total soil matters, flavor, texture and total acceptance were measured and indicated at highest acceptability among the treatments, 4.08, 0.46, 13.91, 14.11, 49.68, 3.85, 4.26 and 3.78 respectively. The closeness of estimated and measured values of responses for optimized formulation suggested the fitness of the selected models and their high predictability.