Test for raw milk abnormalities

Inflationary pressures see alcohol and fast food purchases decline

Danette Breitenbach

HILLEROD, DENMARK: Foss, one of the world's leading providers of analytical instruments for the food, agricultural, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, announced on Wednesday, 16 September 2009, that it has extended the availability of its software functionality to spot adulterated raw milk.

Raw milk containing abnormalities is a growing problem. The abnormalities can be caused by deliberate adulteration, for example with lard or melamine or by accident, if milk from cows and buffalo are mixed.

The software allows MilkoScan analysers, based on Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) technology, to be programmed to give a warning of possible abnormalities in raw milk samples. These instruments are already used around the world to check milk for payment and quality assurance purposes.

It does not identify specific contaminants but helps to identify a suspect raw milk sample quickly and as a normal part of everyday testing. The suspect sample can then be further analysed to determine the contaminant.

Looking at raw milk from a spectroscopic point of view, natural raw milk has a particular spectrum - a unique fingerprint. It is possible to program an infrared spectroscopy analyser to recognise the spectra (or fingerprint) representing normal milk. A warning is then given when samples do not match the fingerprint.

Foss dairy market manager, Dorthe Bisgaard said, “The approach is a powerful tool for tackling milk adulteration and quality assurance people can quickly check for many different types of adulteration and with no extra time or cost per routine test.”

For more details, see: www.foss.dk/abnormality-screening