Milk Cholesterol Reduction at Pilot Station Level Using Beta-Cyclodextrin

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of cholesterol elimination from milk using beta-cyclodextrin at pilot station scale, because there is very little information considering this level of milk processing. β-cyclodextrin is a nontoxic, edible and chemically stable compound with affinity for nonpolar molecules like cholesterol, giving the opportunity for obtaining food products that can prevent the appearance of cardiovascular diseases. By applying of this procedure, the cholesterol reduction percentage was calculated as approximately 84 %, similar to the values reported by the specialty literature. Except fat and freezing point values, the other parameters values increased with an approximate percentage of 8, indicating a concentration phenomenon due to milk pasteurization. Fat concentration value decreased with 5.9 %, due to the cholesterol inclusion in the beta-cyclodextrin molecule and its elimination at the bottom of the centrifugal separator. However the variation of the parameters is insignificant, so this process could be considered efficient to be applied at a pilot station level.