The sheep milk quality as a raw material for the telemea cheese assortment from Vinţe Farm.

Sheep milk has a high nutritional value and is an important source of fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, etc., which contribute to the body's health. In addition to the use of raw milk, the main use of sheep's milk is the production of traditional cheeses obtained by small farmers or regional cheese producers. However, the quality of the obtained cheeses depends on the raw material, namely milk, which has to be free of pathogenic microorganisms. This study aims to highlight the importance of the quality of raw milk to obtain high-quality cheeses. Milk and telemea cheese samples were collected from Țurcană sheep breed farmed in Vințe farm, Cluj county, Romania. The physicochemical analyses were performed for both milk and cheese. The physicochemical analysis results for milk were: crude fat 8.98±0.18%, crude protein 5.08±0.16%, density 1.0345±0.01 g cm-3, acidity 17.2±0.97%. For the cheese, the results were: water 45.2±0.74%, dry matter (DM) 54.8±0.74%, crude fat 51.93±2.05% reported to DM, salt 5.63±0.31% and acidity 272.6±11.82%. The pleasant taste of cheese is due to the quality of the raw milk and the brine used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]