Detailed mineral profile of milk from cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, dromedary camels, and donkeys and minerals recovery in cheese

Milk is an important source of essential minerals in the human diet. Bovine milk is the most commonly consumed milk worldwide, but in some areas of the world milk from other species represents an important contribution to the overall consumption. This study aimed to compare the detailed mineral profile of milk from cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, dromedary camels, and donkeys and the minerals recovery in their cheese. Ten 2-liter samples of bulk milk were collected from different Italian farms for donkey, cattle, buffalo, goat, and sheep species, while 10 milk samples were collected from dromedary camels reared in two different areas in Algeria. We processed the samples individually using the same model cheese-making procedure and the wheels obtained were ripened for 95 ± 5 d in the same conditions (15 °C and 85% RH). Samples of milk and ripened cheese were analyzed for the detailed mineral profile using Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The percentage of milk minerals recovery in cheese was also calculated. Milk minerals and their recovery in cheese were analyzed using a generalized linear model, where the species was considered as a fixed effect. The results showed that donkey milk had the lowest concentration of macro- and micro-minerals except for Sr. Considering the macro-mineral profile, the dromedary milk had the highest concentration of Na and was similar to the cow’s and goat’s milk in terms of Ca, K, P, and S, but it was more similar to the donkey milk in terms of Mg. Compared to the bubaline and ovine milk, cow and goat showed a lower content of many macro- minerals but had a higher concentration of K. In terms of micro-minerals, the results showed greater variability (from 0.02 ± 0.017 mg/kg for Ti to 5.80 ± 2.017 mg/kg of Zn) and every species was characterized by a different profile. The donkey milk was the only one that did not coagulate in the same cheese-making conditions of the other species. The recoveries showed that about 80% of Ca, 60% of P and S, and 45% of Mg from milk were transferred to the cheese, whereas almost 90% of K was lost in the whey. The recovery of the micro-minerals was more variable, but in many cases over 50% of milk content. The buffalo’s and sheep’s milk often showed a higher recovery efficiency than the other species, except for some micro-minerals. Further investigations should be done on the relationships between minerals and other milk and cheese nutrients.