ABAH Bioflux, 2013, Volume 5, Issue 2. http://www.abah.bioflux.com.ro 183 ABAH BI OFLUX Animal Biology & Animal Husbandry International Journal of the Bioflux Society Variation of the fatty acids in buffalo milk and cheese 1 Aurelia Coroian, 2 Cristian T. Matea, 2 Constantin Bele, 1 Vioara Mireşan, 1 Camelia Răducu, 3 Antonia Odagiu, 1 Stelian Dărăban, 1 Cristian O. Coroian 1 Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 3 Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Corresponding author: C. Coroian, cristian_coroian@yahoo.com Abstract . Lipids are major components of buffalo milk with great implications in nutrition and economical aspects. The nutritional value of buffalo milk is derived from its complex chemical composition and its high rate of assimilation. Major fatty acids found in both milk and cheese were: palmitic acid (16:0), oleic (18:1) and stearic (18:0). The ratio between UFA/SFA was 0.3, lower than the threshold of 1.5 which is considered to not raise negative health effects. Key Words: Buffalo, milk, GC, cheese, fatty acid. Introduction . Fatty acids (FAs) composition is an important parameter when determining the nutritional value in food. Major causes of death such as cardiovascular disease and cancer are linked to dietary fat intake (Chow 2000). Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) should constitute up to 7 – 10 % of the total energy intake, where n-3 PUFA should be 1 – 2 % and the remaining part n-6 PUFA, for a healthy nutrition. Little attention has been paid to the study of buffalo milk composition and especially to its fatty acids distribution, thus data on the subject is scarce. Buffalo milk do their high dry matter content is one the most suitable raw material for cheese manufacture (Coroian et al 2011b). Buffalo milk fat is reported to have higher concentration levels of butyric, palmitic, stearic acids and PUFAs and lower values for the medium chain FAs (C6:0 - C12:0) when compared with cow milk (Ganguli 1979). The GC quantification method was utilized by (Farag et al 2006) for determining the fatty acids distribution and concentration levels in buffalo milk samples and adulterated buffalo milk. Alteration of milk occurs more often do the high range of total germs, or increased somatic cells (Coroian et al 2012a), and therefore is not suitable for processing. But not at least diary products quality production starts with a balanced feeding regime oncerning all nutritional components (Coroian et al 2011a). In case of disputes regarding cheese quality, recent research proved that infrared spectroscopy can be used with success for a rapid method of cheese and other milk products legalization (Coroian et al 2012b). Najbullah et al (1998) also employs the GC method in analyzing the CLA content of 11 types of cheeses, with total lipids content for the samples ranging from 14 – 37 %. Chashnidel et al (2010) studied the seasonal variation in composition and fatty acid profile in a Iranian buffalo milk, with emphasis on CLA. In 2003 Bergamo et al conducts a study on fat-soluble vitamin contents and FAs composition in organic and conventional Italian dairy products. The major FAs identified by the group were the linoleic, conjugated linoleic and oleic acid (Bergamo et al 2003). Buffalo milk fat was widely criticized by nutritionists as it contains a substantial amount of myristic and palmitic acids and low amounts of MUFAs and PUFAs (Kennelly 1996). The aim of the present study is to determine the fatty acid profile in both cheese and buffalo milk, by means of Gas Chromatography.