Evaluation of acceptability of fresh cheese made from milk of breed of meat sheep Suffolk

<p>In recent years, the demand for livestock food has tended to increase worldwide, and while grain for raising animals is covered, there are many areas where grain is inadequately supplied. The protein conversion efficiency of livestock is about 10% for beef, but 25-35% for milk. Therefore, increasing the added value of milk and promoting milk utilization will greatly contribute to the SDGs. In general, sheep milk is higher in solids, vitamins, ash, and fat than that of other livestock breeds, which makes it nutritious, rich, and creamy when processed into cheese. Milk from Suffolk, a meat breed, is known to be even higher in solids and nutrients. Although many cheeses made from sheep's milk are available in Europe, cheeses made from Suffolk milk, which is a meat breed, are not available anywhere in the world. If Suffolk milk can be used, it can be produced in parallel with meat production, which will make it easier to be accepted by livestock farmers. Therefore, a sensory evaluation method was conducted to see if cheese made from Suffolk milk would be acceptable to consumers, and to compare it with cow's milk cheese. The evaluation was based on a 7-point grading system, with 7 levels of evaluation for appearance, aroma, texture, richness, acidity, and overall evaluation. Three types of samples were used: sheep's milk Caille de Brebis, sheep's milk Fromage Blanc, and cow's milk Fromage Blanc. 15 to 17 g of each sample was placed in a white bowl and evaluated in a random order. The mean overall rating was 4.05 for the sheep's milk Caille de Brebis, 4.15 for the sheep's milk Fromage Blanc, and 4.15 for the cow's milk Fromage Blanc, and no significant differences were found among the cheeses. The results suggest that sheep's milk cheeses may be as acceptable as the familiar cow's milk cheeses.</p>