Microstructure, texture, colour and sensory evaluation of a spreadable processed cheese analogue made with vegetable fat

‘Requeijão cremoso’ is a spreadable processed cheese that shows ample acceptance on the Brazilian market. In this work, analogues of this cheese, made by substituting 25% and 50% of the dairy fat with vegetable fat, were studied with respect to physical–chemical composition, texture profile, microstructure and sensory acceptance. The substitution of part of the dairy cream by vegetable fat resulted in increased adhesiveness and hardness. The traditional cheese presented a uniform protein network in which numerous small fat particles were dispersed, whilst in the analogues, the fat globules were present in smaller numbers and with greater diameters, a behaviour intensified by increasing proportions of vegetable fat. In the sensory analysis, the traditional cheese and the analogue with 50% vegetable fat were better evaluated than the analogue with 25% vegetable fat.