Development of functional whey cheese enriched in vitamin D

"Ricotta" cheese is a traditional and popular Italian fresh whey cheese commonly produced from cow's milk. Food fortification is an efficient strategy to reduce the high global prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. This study aims to study the chemical-nutritional analysis of ricotta cheese and to assess its suitability as a dairy matrix for vitamin D fortification. The chemical-nutritional analyses revealed that ricotta cheese is a good source of proteins (7.8 g/100 g) with high levels of branched-chain amino acids (1.8 g/100 g). Moreover, ricotta contains high levels of calcium (0.4 g/100 g) and phosphorus (0.2 g/100 g). 50 mg of vitamin D