Strategies to develop healthier processed cheeses: Reduction of sodium and fat contents and use of prebiotics

Dairy industry has sought strategies for obtaining products that meet new market demands, focusing on foods of higher nutritional quality to be better options for consumers. In this competitive scenario, dairy foods have been developed to provide functional components and/or meet specific dietary needs, such as those observed in the setting of obesity and hypertension. Processed cheese, which originally has high-sodium and fat contents in its formulation, may also undergo a reformulation. In addition, nowadays, the addition of prebiotic ingredients into dairy products is a common technological practice to not only enhance their beneficial health effects but also to improve the final texture, replace fat components, and increase the fiber content. In the present review, we provide the state-of-the-art of the effects of fat and salt reduction and the positive impacts of adding prebiotics on the functional properties and sensory acceptance of processed cheeses.