289 www.roavs.com EISSN: 2223-0343 RESEARCH OPINIONS IN ANIMAL & VETERINARY SCIENCES Preparation of fresh soft cheese from dromedary camel milk using acid and heat method Ahmed E. Mohamed 1 , Izeldin A. Babiker 2 and Tawfeeg E. Mohamed 3 1 Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bahr- Elghazal, Sudan; 2 Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zalingei, P O Box 06, Sudan; 3 Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, Shambat, Sudan Abstract Cheese prepared from camel milk by direct acidification (60% acetic acid and heating at 66.4C°) were evaluated. Chemical analysis of the cheese samples was done and the mean values of the main components were obtained. Thirty panellists estimated the cheese according to the sensory evaluation (colour, flavour, taste, body texture, saltiness, overall acceptability). Overall the sensory evaluation was acceptable to most of the panellist. The optimum temperature was 66.24°C and pH 4.3. It was concluded that cheese can be prepared from camel milk by coagulating milk with acidification by acetic acid and heating processes. Keywords: Acetic acid; camel milk; calcium chloride; cheese; composition; sensory evaluation To cite this article: Ahmed AE, IA Babiker and TE Mohamed, 2013. Preparation of fresh soft cheese from dromedary camel milk using acid and heat method. Res. Opin. Anim. Vet. Sci., 3(9), 289-292. Introduction There are about 2.8 million camels (Camelus dromedaries) in Sudan distributed around the country (FAO, 2001). They belong to the one-humped dromedary kind. The average daily milk yield of camel in Sudan was found to be 5-10 Kg. Camel milk is extremely popular and widely consumed by nomadic tribes in Sudan both as fresh raw milk and as soured milk especially in the East and West region. The camel is a potentially important source of milk. Indeed, in some countries hosting large camel populations, camel’s milk is one of the main components of the human diet (Farah et al., 1989). Yagil (1982) reported that the camels can lactate even under severe drought conditions. The cheese is an important product of animal milk. It is a product which persists for a long time and it is prepared by several processing technique based on fermentation of milk by lactic acid bacteria. Particularly in the past, cheese was valued by most people who lived in the city or in the desert, because it has long shelf-life, which is made by reduction of water content and addition of salts to inhibit the growth of bacteria (Grahame, 1996). According to Ramet (2001), the cheese made from camel’s milk is high in vitamins, low in cholesterol and low in lactose. The cheese production from animals milk in different forms (types, shape, taste, and colour), has became a new art and spread very fast throughout the world. Cheese formation from camel milk is still limited. Mehaia (1993) observed that camel milk failed to form gel like structure after 18h incubation with lactic acid culture, this was attributed to the presence antibacterial factors such as lysozymes, lactoferrin immunoglobulin in camel milk (Agmy et al., 2007). Farah (1993) studied the preparation and consumer acceptability tests of fermented milk. They found that the consistency of fermented milk (under laboratory condition) was thin and a precipitate in the form of flocks was formed rather than a coagulum after fermentation. These reports clearly show the difficulty of producing fermented camel milk products with high consistency due to the problem associated with milk coagulation. Therefore, the objective of this study was Corresponding author: Ahmed .E. Ahmed, Department of Preventive medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary medicine, University of Bahr-Elghazal, Sudan