Alginate/whey protein isolate-based emulgel as an alternative margarine replacer in processed cheese: Impact on rheological, mechanical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics

The effects of partial or full replacement of margarine by alginate/whey protein isolate-based olive oil emulgel on nutritional, physicochemical, mechanical, and rheological properties of processed cheese (PC) were investigated in this work. All formulated samples had the same amount of total fat, DM, and pH. According to the results of the fatty acids profile, the PC sample in which the margarine was fully replaced by the emulgel (EPC₁₀₀) had the highest (49.84%) oleic acid content and showed a reduction of 23.7% in SFA compared with the control sample (EPC₀; formulated just with margarine). In addition, EPC₀ had the highest hardness among various cheese samples, which was also confirmed by its compact microstructure. Dynamic oscillatory measurements revealed that EPC₁₀₀ had the highest crossover strain (or resistance to deformation). The high rigidity of this sample was related to the 3-dimensional structure of emulgel. According to the creep test results, EPC₁₀₀ showed the lowest relative recovery (flowability). A high temperature dependency of viscoelastic moduli was observed in EPC₀ at 42°C. No significant differences were observed between the color attributes and sensory properties of the various cheese samples. Alginate/whey protein isolate-based olive oil emulgel can be considered as a healthy margarine replacer in PC.