Marcelino Kongo J, João Leite, Ana Borges and Duarte Ponte
Samples of bovine milk (raw, thermized, or pasteurized) and of cheeses (raw and pasteurized) at 60 d of ripening were analyzed for contents in CLA. Detected values varied between 1.45 ± 0.20 mg/g in raw milk, 1.44 ± 0.05 mg/g lipid in thermized milk and 1.40 ± 0.11 mg/g in pasteurized milk, and 9.6 ± 0.5 mg/g in pasteurized cheeses and 10.8 ± 4.2 mg/g in raw-milk cheeses. Our results indicate that although processing factors such as heating and ripening affect the CLA contents of a dairy product, the major source of its variation among products may be the intrinsic amount of CLA present in the raw-milk.