The Flavor of Dairy Products from Grass-Fed Cows

Abstract

The milks used for manufacturing bovine dairy products are not all equal. The feeding regimen of lactating cows can widely vary, giving rise to remarkable compositional differences. Recently, grass-fed/based milk and transformed products are being taken into great consideration due to their more favorable nutritional characteristics and better sustainability over those from intensive systems. Besides these well-established aspects, the existence of differences in flavor is highly debated. The “cheese story tellers” consider it as a proven fact and tend to directly link the aroma of grass-based dairy products to the plants the animals ate. Unfortunately, this claim is not yet supported by scientific data. Actually, there is sufficient evidence of the presence of a distinctive aroma in milk from grass-fed cows, but the connection with specific aroma-active compounds is still in progress. In addition to this, the role of some compounds deriving from cow’s metabolism seems to be much more important than that of other compounds that directly derive from feed. The situation in transformed products, in particular cheese, is even more complicated due to the overlapping of flavor compounds originating from technological operations, microbial metabolism and enzyme activities during storage or ripening. Further work is still needed to answer the question, but the increasing application of a flavoromics approach to the studies should rapidly bring about a decisive contribution to the knowledge.

The Influence of Pasture and Non-pasture-Based Feeding Systems on the Aroma of Raw Bovine Milk

“…The potential source and aroma of each of these VOC have already been discussed. As mentioned, 3-/4-ethylphenol is a phenolic compound that has been previously identified in bovine milk (2,6,41) and appears to be present in both raw GRS and TMR milk in this study. 3-/4-ethylphenol was identified in both feed samples being higher in TMR feed, which concurred with the results found by Faulkner et al (6).…”

“…Dimethyl sulfone is derived from the oxidation of dimethyl sulphide, which may be formed via the metabolism of methionine and/or cysteine ( 27 ), or from heat-induced oxidation of methionine ( 34 ). It may also be transferred directly from plant-based diets ( 2 ), but this was not evident in this study ( Supplementary Table 1 ). Similar to the branched acids and aldehydes, numerous studies have found higher abundances of dimethyl sulfone in bovine milk derived from a pasture-feeding system than from a concentrate-feeding system ( 2 , 4 , 28 , 35 ), suggesting it is likely related to the increased availability of more digestible protein (methionine) in the pasture-based feeding system, which, again, contradicts the findings of this study.…”

“…It may also be transferred directly from plant-based diets (2), but this was not evident in this study (Supplementary Table 1). Similar to the branched acids and aldehydes, numerous studies have found higher abundances of dimethyl sulfone in bovine milk derived from a pasture-feeding system than from a concentratefeeding system (2,4,28,35), suggesting it is likely related to the increased availability of more digestible protein (methionine) in the pasture-based feeding system, which, again, contradicts the (34) suggested that, as the odour threshold of dimethyl sulfone is quite high, it is, therefore, unlikely to be a key aroma-active compound. Its odour had been described as sulphurous, hot milk, burnt, leather, and sweat like (11,34).…”

“…Previous studies have demonstrated a significant effect of the feeding system on the composition of raw milk and, particularly, its impact on the fatty acid content (1). It is also established that diet has a significant impact on the volatile profile of bovine milk (1)(2)(3), and it may even be possible to use volatile organic compounds (VOC) to authenticate pasture-based dairy products (4,5). VOC in bovine milk consists of a range of different chemical classes, including aldehydes, ketones, lactones, esters, alcohols, acids, terpenes, furans, hydrocarbons, pyrazines, and phenolic and sulphur compounds (1,(5)(6)(7)).…”

Certificações Como Estratégia De Upgrading Na Cadeia De Valor Do Leite Em Palmas/To

“…) destacou que o leite de vacas alimentadas com pastagem é cada vez mais apreciado pelo consumidor. As razões para essa valorização envolvem a sustentabilidade ambiental, bem-estar animal, valores éticos (vantagens cientificamente comprovadas) e melhor composição do leite, mais saudável e possivelmente com características sensoriais diferenciadas (ainda sendo investigadas)(CABIDDU et al, 2019;FACCIA, 2020).Cabiddu et al. (2019) destacam que o leite de vacas a pasto é mais rico nutricionalmente, possuindo mais vitaminas, polifenóis, enzimas e até mesmo ácidos graxos, contribuindo com a saúde humana.…”