Research on donkey milk · Study 68

Donkey milk in the cheese vat: rolled cheese with 10 and 20 % donkey milk

A team from Novi Sad made a traditional pasta filata cheese from Vojvodina three times – from pure cow’s milk and with a share of donkey milk. They compared production, microorganisms, composition, minerals and the verdict of 24 tasters.

Important: A food technology laboratory study on cheesemaking. It makes no statement about any effect of donkey milk or cheese in humans.
0 %donkey milk in the vat

Starting material

Two very different raw milks

Cow’s milk = 100. The further left the donkey milk dot lies, the less it contains by comparison. Measured in the study; raw milk from Balkan and Banat donkeys from the Zasavica nature reserve, collected in December 2024.

Cow’s milk (Holstein)Donkey milk (Balkan/Banat)

Production · runs automatically

Coagulation took up to five times as long

10 litres of milk each, same amount of rennet (0.3 g). With donkey milk, coagulation took considerably longer.

  1. Warmingmilk to 40 °C
  2. Coagulatingstir in rennet, let it set
  3. Cuttingcurd into cubes of approx. 2 cm
  4. Drainingdrain whey, drain in a cloth
  5. Stretchingsteep the curd in water at 80 °C
  6. Rolling5 mm thin, salt, roll into two rolls

Then drained for 24 hours at 4 °C, without ripening. All analyses within 24 hours. Salting was done by hand; the paper does not state the amount of salt.

Composition of the cheese · drag the slider

Less fat, more salt

Drag the slider to 0, 10 or 20 % donkey milk. Marked red: significant difference between the three cheeses.

0 %10 %20 %

Mean values; bar length per row relates to the highest of the three values. Fat in dry matter: the authors classify the cow’s milk cheese as full-fat and the cheeses with donkey milk as semi-fat (Serbian classification).

Microbiology · choose a tab

No difference in microorganisms

Counts as log10 CFU per gram. The colonies in the dishes are schematic: their number follows the measured value, not a real plate.

Salmonella: not detectedListeria monocytogenes: not detectedCoagulase-positive staphylococci < 1 log

All differences not significant (p = 0.14 to 0.72). According to the authors, all cheeses met the criteria of EU Regulation 2073/2005. Measurements were taken once, not over the course of storage.

Tasting with 24 people

Equally liked, but recognisably different

Rating on a scale from 1 (dislike completely) to 5 (like very much). No difference was significant; for taste the value was just above the threshold (p = 0.087).

Triangle test: each person received three samples, two of them identical, and had to find the odd one out. From 16 correct out of 24, the difference counts as recognisable (dark line). The tasters were institute staff, 15 women and 9 men.

Critical assessment

Donkey milk effect or something else?

For each clear finding, we checked whether it can be explained by the donkey milk (left) or whether another factor is more likely (right).

Plausibly due to donkey milkDonkey milk contained 0.45 % fat, cow’s milk 3.93 %.
Fat 24.5 → 19.8 %
Other cause–
Plausibly due to donkey milkDonkey milk contained less calcium (679 vs. 1037 mg/kg).
Calcium 3922 → 3319
Other cause–
Plausibly due to donkey milk–
Salt 0.53 → 1.93 %
Other causeSalted by hand, amount not stated. The 10 % cheese has more salt than the 20 % cheese.
Plausibly due to donkey milk–
Sodium 2105 → 7600
Other causeFollows the salt content; donkey milk itself contained less sodium than cow’s milk.
Plausibly due to donkey milk–
Potassium 380 → 986
Other causeUnexplained: donkey milk contained less potassium (562 vs. 836 mg/kg).
One batch: apparently a single cheese from 10 litres per variant, measured in duplicate. Variation between batches is unknown.
Inconsistent: for magnesium, the table gives p = 0.118, the text p = 0.018. According to the text, the water content rose – in the 10 % cheese it fell.
Transparent: public funding (Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, project PROTECTDonkey), no conflicts of interest declared.

Editorial assessment: The study shows that a traditional pasta filata cheese can be made with up to 20 % donkey milk and was liked about as well by the tasters. The differences in salt and sodium cannot be attributed to the donkey milk with certainty.

Research question for DON DONKEY’S®

What happens to donkey milk when it is processed?

Cheese, powder, heating: every processing step changes milk. We are interested in which properties of donkey milk are preserved in the process – and how to measure this properly.

Same co-author: Study 56 (Serbia)Heating: Study 58Raw milk vs. powder: Study 45

Original publication

Impact of Balkan and Banat Donkey Milk on the Technological Process, Microbiological Quality, Composition, and Consumer Acceptability of Rolled Cheese

Original title of the publication.

Vidaković Knežević S., Vranešević J., Popov N., Knežević S., Ljubojević Pelić D., Živkov Baloš M.
Foods · 2025 · volume 14, article 2041 · open access
Scientific Veterinary Institute “Novi Sad”, Serbia

DOI: 10.3390/foods14122041

Transparency: funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia (PROTECTDonkey) and the Serbian Ministry of Science. According to the publication, no conflicts of interest. No product-related statement for DON DONKEY’S®.

Summarised and reviewed by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team on the basis of the original publication · as of October 2026

End of the study summary
Note on our products

The study summarised above was carried out independently of DON DONKEY’S® and does not relate to our products. It serves solely to inform about the state of research.

DON DONKEY’S® donkey milk and donkey milk powder are foods. They are not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease and do not replace medical advice.

DON DONKEY&rsquo;S&reg; donkey cheese

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DON DONKEY’S® donkey cheese

Cheese nuggets from 50 g

Matching the topic of this page: our donkey cheese. Around 25 litres of donkey milk go into one kilogram; the taste is slightly nutty, the texture firm and creamy at the same time.

Transparency: The study made a rolled cheese from cow’s milk with 10 or 20 % donkey milk – not our donkey cheese. The results cannot be transferred to our product.
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DON DONKEY&rsquo;S&reg; donkey milk

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DON DONKEY’S® donkey milk

100 % donkey milk · raw milk, frozen

On this page we present the findings of a published study. Independently of that, you will find our donkey milk here: 100 % donkey milk, frozen as raw milk.

Transparency: The study processed milk from Balkan and Banat donkeys from Serbia into cheese – not the milk of our partner farms.
€24,90

100 ml bottle / 100ml · Unit price: €249,00 / 1 l · incl. VAT, plus shipping

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Donkey Milk Powder

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Donkey Milk Powder

Donkey milk in powder form

For anyone who prefers it longer-lasting: our donkey milk in powder form – easy to store and portion.

Transparency: The study processed fresh donkey milk, not our donkey milk powder.
€24,90

20g · Unit price: €1.245,00 / 1 kg · incl. VAT, plus shipping

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