New method identifies milk source of premium dairy products

Premium dairy products, such as imported specialty cheeses labelled with a designation of origin, are the most vulnerable to adulteration, with unscrupulous manufacturers substituting cheaper ingredients for more costly ones or skimping on high-quality ingredients.

A new method described in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is said to be able to determine whether specialty cheeses are true to label, such as mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, which is traditionally made from water buffalo milk.

The method, authored by Barbara van Asch and colleagues, involved the development and laboratory testing of 96 dairy products commercially available in Europe, including cheeses, milks, yoghurts and butters. The researchers found that about 12% of the products did not contain the ingredients listed on the label, such as a product labelled as 100% sheep’s milk that contained milk from cows and goats.

Previous studies have shown that the problem of dairy products not being true to label is widespread, with mislabelled products appearing in Italy, Spain, China and India. Current methods of detecting fakes can’t simultaneously detect cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milks, which prompted the researchers to develop a more effective method.

Read the journal article here.