Mozzarella Cheese as Functional Food

Around the entire world, production of Mozzarella cheese has been gaining market share with expecting to grow more due in part to increasing market for ready to eat food stuffs especially Pizza. Regarding that consumers have been showing more concern with the nutritional aspects of the foods they eat than ever before. This book represents a study about the conventional mozzarella cheese and converting it to functional foods to increase its nutritional value and improving its functional properties when it use as shredded cheese. Olive oil as well-known as a natural source of antioxidants and has many other health benefits was used to substitute the milk fat in the manufacturing of Mozzarella cheese. The chemical composition and the major functional and rheological properties such as meltability, stretchability and free oil formation, were then examined and compared with traditionally manufactured control cheese. Furthermore, Sensory evaluation testing established the consumer acceptability of the new product.