Nutrient Profiles of Commercial Goat Milk Cheeses Manufactured in the United States

Thirty varieties of commercial goat milk cheeses collected from 13 manufacturers in 11 states of the US were evaluated. Concentration profiles of basic nutrients, major and trace minerals, their correlations, and mineral ratios in the caprine cheeses were determined to compare nutritional parameters among the varieties. Mean percentage of moisture, fat, protein, and ash for plain soft, semi-soft, hard, pepper, garlic, and herb cheeses were 59.8, 22.5, 18.9, 1.74; 43.2, 28.5, 26.2, 2.83; 27.4, 32.3, 25.4, 3.58; 57.3, 22.9, 21.6, 1.32; 64.3, 18.3, 16.7, 1.34; 59.1, 21.8, 17.3, 1.60, respectively. Ranges of mean concentrations (mg/100 g wet basis) of S, P, K, Mg, Ca, Na, Cl, Fe, Al, Mn, Cu, and Zn were: 2.00 to 8.05; 192 to 785; 7.03 to 103; 10.3 to 78.0; 57.1 to 1035; 225 to 924; 96.0 to 1260; .52 to 8.73; .47 to 22.1; .08 to .40; .44 to 1.32; .49 to 4.13, respectively. Twenty of the 30 varieties were very high or high moisture cheeses, which would suggest slow coagulation as the major mode of fabrication. Wide variations in the concentrations of P, K, Ca, Na, Cl, Fe, Al, and Zn were found among and within varieties of the cheeses. High concentrations and variations in Fe and Al in the cheeses indicate a significant possibility of uptake of these elements into the products during farmstead manufacturing processes. Percentage of moisture was negatively and significantly (P less than .05 or P less than .01) correlated with the concentrations of ash, fat, protein, and most of the minerals. Percentage of ash was positively and significantly correlated with the concentrations of macrominerals but negatively and less correlated with concentrations of Fe, Al, Mn, and Cu. The Na:K ratio was the highest of the five mineral ratios. Differences were significant for Ca:P, Ca:Mg, and Na:K ratios among the six types of goat cheese tested.