Monitoring the authenticity of Brazilian UHT milk: A chemometric approach

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 124; no. 2; pp. 692 - 695
• Main Authors: Souza, Simone S., Cruz, Adriano G., Walter, Eduardo H.M., Faria, Jose A.F., Celeghini, Renata M.S., Ferreira, Márcia M.C., Granato, Daniel, Sant’Ana, Anderson de S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2011; [Amsterdam]: Elsevier Science
• Subjects: adulterated products; Authenticity; Chemometric techniques; Chlorine; food composition; food quality; food safety; formol; geographical variation; hierarchical cluster analysis; hydrogen peroxide; principal component analysis; product authenticity; qualitative analysis; quantitative analysis; starch; UHT milk; UHT treatment; urine; Brazil; Authenticity; Chemometric techniques; UHT milk
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.06.074

In this work, chemometric methods are reported as potential tools for monitoring the authenticity of Brazilian ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk processed in industrial plants located in different regions of the country. A total of 100 samples were submitted to the qualitative analysis of adulterants such as starch, chlorine, formol, hydrogen peroxide and urine. Except for starch, all the samples reported, at least, the presence of one adulterant. The use of chemometric methodologies such as the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) enabled the verification of the occurrence of certain adulterations in specific regions. The proposed multivariate approaches may allow the sanitary agency authorities to optimise materials, human and financial resources, as they associate the occurrence of adulterations to the geographical location of the industrial plants.