LOW-FAT, BRINE-MATURED, SOFT WHITE CHEESE ENRICHED WITH CHOLESTEROL LOWERING AGENT AND METHOD FOR PREPARING SAME

摘要

The present invention provides a method for preparing a brine-matured, soft white cheese enriched with a cholesterol lowering agent selected from the group consisting of free plant sterols, plant sterol esters, free plant stanols, plant stanol esters, and mixtures thereof, comprising the steps of (a) preparing a homogeneous mixture of skimmed milk and the cholesterol lowering agent by providing skimmed milk and a cholesterol lowering agent, followed by mixing and homogenizing the skimmed milk and the cholesterol lowering agent to give a homogeneous mixture of skimmed milk and cholesterol lowering agent, (b) providing partially skimmed milk, wherein the partially skimmed milk has not been subjected to homogenization, (c) mixing the homogeneous mixture of skimmed milk and cholesterol lowering agent provided in step (a) and the partially skimmed milk of step (b) to obtain a soft white cheese making mixture, and (d) preparing the brine-matured, soft white cheese enriched with a cholesterol lowering agent from the soft white cheese making mixture obtained in step (c). Furthermore, the present invention provides a brine-matured, soft white cheese prepared by the method of the present invention and its use in the prevention or treatment of diseases associated with hypercholesterolemia.