Composition of fatty acids and triglycerides in goat cheeses and study of the triglyceride composition of goat milk and cow milk blends

• Uruguayan goat cheeses showed high levels of conjugated linoleic acid and trans-vaccenic acid.
• Triglyceride profile changes when cow milk is added to goat milk.
• Triglyceride profile could be used to determine if goat cheese was adulterated with cow milk.

The composition of fatty acids and triglycerides in the fat of Uruguayan goat cheeses was determined. Additionally, in the present study, triglyceride composition was determined in terms of partition number (PN) for fats from pure goat milk, pure cow milk and blends thereof (90:10, 80:20, and 50:50 blends of goat milk:cow milk). All Uruguayan goat cheeses showed high levels of conjugated linoleic acid and trans-vaccenic acid, well above those reported in cheeses from other countries. This is advantage in terms of nutritional quality. In fats from goat milk in Uruguayan cheeses, the highest average percentages of triglycerides correspond to PN = 36 (13.2%) and PN = 42 (13.6%). The results demonstrate that the triglyceride profile changes when cow milk is added to goat milk. When the amount of cow milk added to goat milk increases, triglycerides with PN values of 38, 40, and 42 tend to decrease, while triglycerides with PN values of 46, 48, and 50 tend to increase. These results suggest that the triglyceride profile could be used to determine whether a given goat cheese was adulterated with cow milk, which is cheaper. This was detected in the case of three Uruguayan goat cheeses that were analysed.