Background: The production of processed cheese in Egypt has recently received much attention. Due to both economic reasons and the increase of consumer’s awareness on the impact of food on health, the food industries are interesting to produce processed cheese with cheaper price, healthier, more appropriate and meet consumer requests. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is low in fat and readily available at a low cost. Besides being a carbohydrate and energy source, they are also rich in micronutrients like vitamin C, B and potassium, as well as carotenoids and antioxidant phenols. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to incorporate sweet potato for the development of processed cheese to enhance the nutritional and textural values and minimize the cost without affecting the overall quality. Materials and Methods: Chemical, rheological, textural, microbiological, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC), antioxidant properties (RSA %) and sensory evaluation were evaluated in processed cheese supplemented with sweet potato puree. Results: Results showed that adding sweet potato puree to cheese resulted in lower total solids (T.S), fat/DM, total nitrogen (T.N), ash, salt and TVFA contents, while pH values, S.N, meltabilty, oil separation and total bacterial count (log cfu/g) increased with increasing the level of sweet potato puree. Incorporating sweet potato puree to cheese increased the TPC, TFC and RSA (%) of all the resultant cheese. In addition, increasing sweet potato puree incorporation tended to decrease the measured textural parameters, except springiness, which increased with increased sweet potato puree level. The flavor of all cheese treatments were preferable to the panelists especially up to 30% sweet potato puree added. All cheese treatments were sensory acceptable but the most acceptable were T1 and T2 as compared with the control, the cheese blend with 10, 20, 30 and 40% sweet potato puree decreased the cost by 5.78,12.54,19.17and 29.13 %, respectively. Conclusion: Incorporation of sweet potato up to 30% had no significant effect (p≤ 0.05) on the sensory and textural parameters of the processed cheese. Sweet potato puree improved the rheological and microbiological properties compared to regular processed cheese. Moreover, the use of sweet potato puree in cheese can be improving its antioxidant activity and decreased the cost.
