Potential Application of Hydroxypropylated Potato Starch as a Fat Replacer in Mozzarella Cheese Imitation and Its Impact on the Techno-Functional Characteristics

Abstract

Fat replacement in different food products, including analog cheese, is gaining importance because of health concerns. The present research, therefore, examined the use of native potato starch (NPS) and hydroxypropylated potato starch (HPS) as a fat replacer (FR) at 2%, 5%, and 8% levels based on fat (dry basis) in mozzarella cheese imitation (MCI). The MCIs made by replacing fat with NPS and HPS resulted in significantly lower pH 5.73–6.36 and moisture contents 46.45%–52.52% compared to control (pH = 6.48, moisture = 54.23%). However, NPS at fat replacement level (5%), resulted in insignificant pH (6.45) and significantly higher moisture content (56.61%) compared to control. The stretchability of HPS containing MCIs were closer to or greater than 20 cm compared to NPS containing MCIs, which exhibited less than 20 cm stretch. Similarly, the spreadability of MCIs containing HPS was observed to be significantly higher 2.08–3.07 cm compared to MCIs made with NPS, which exhibited (<2 cm) spread. Moreover, MCIs made with HPS were more shear stable, as evident by significantly higher critical strain (CS) values between 16.14% and 20.20% in amplitude sweep measurements. However, the textural analysis showed that the HPS significantly outperformed NPS for hardness, except for FHPS-8 (1476.25 g), which demonstrated an insignificant difference with its native counterpart MCI. In terms of sensory analysis, the MCI made with HPS was significantly preferred for stretch and melt. While taste, texture, and color of the HPS-based MCIs were insignificantly different in comparison to control. The results of the study clearly justify the potential of HPS for replacing fat in analog cheese without affecting the sensorial properties.