Development of a functional whey cheese (ricotta) enriched in phytosterols: Evaluation of the suitability of whey cheese matrix and processing for phytosterols supplementation

This study aims to evaluate the suitability of whey cheese (ricotta) and whey cheese production process for phytosterols-enrichment. Therefore, the phytosterols stability of ricotta cheese was assessed during cheese processing (85 ◦C for 60 min) and storage (4 ◦C for 4 weeks). Given the novelty of the food matrix used, it was necessary to develop an innovative analytical method for sterols determination in enriched ricotta cheese. The developed HPLC-DAD method showed good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9956) and reproducibility (0.4–7.6%), while extraction recoveries ranged between 83.7% and 84.6%. Phytosterols showed a good heat-stability in ricotta cheese matrix during cheese processing (87.0–89.7) %. Moreover, the functional cheese showed a homogeneous phytosterols distribution and maintained its potential bioactivity during its shelf-life since no significant variation of phytosterols levels was observed during storage (0.83 ± 0.03) g/100 g.