Sensory analysis and species-specific PCR detect bovine milk adulteration of frescal (fresh) goat cheese

The Brazilian market for dairy products made from goat milk is increasing despite the seasonality of production and naturally small milk production per animal, factors that result in high-priced products and encourage fraud. In Brazil, no official analytical method exists for detecting adulteration of goat dairy products with cow milk. The aim of this study was to design a strategy to investigate the adulteration of frescal (fresh) goat cheeses available in the Rio de Janeiro retail market, combining analysis of cheese composition and the perception of adulteration by consumers. Commercial goat cheeses were tested by using a duplex PCR assay previously designed to authenticate cheeses, by targeting the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal RNA genes of both species simultaneously. The PCR test was able to detect 0.5% (vol/vol) cow milk added during goat cheese formulation. The analysis of 20 locally produced goat cheeses (20 lots of 4 brands) showed that all were adulterated with cow milk, even though the labels did not indicate the addition of cow milk. To estimate the ability of consumers to perceive the fraudulent addition of cow milk, a triangle test was performed, in which cheeses formulated with several different proportions of goat and cow milk were offered to 102 regular consumers of cheese. Detection threshold analysis indicated that almost half of the consumers were able to perceive adulteration at 10% (vol/vol) cow milk. Effective actions must be implemented to regulate the market for goat dairy products in Brazil, considering the rights and choices of consumers with respect to their particular requirements for diet and health, preference, and cost.     

A simultaneous triplex TaqMan real-time PCR approach for authentication of caprine and bovine meat,milk and cheese

Goat foodstuffs are considered as healthy foods with high nutritional value. This study demonstrated the development and validation of a triplex real-time PCR on the basis of species-specific and species-conservative TaqMan probes for the simultaneous identification of caprine and bovine DNA in meats, milk and cheeses with a prerequisite designed endogenous control. In this research, caprine and bovine meat, milk and cheese were specifically identified via developed primers and probes, and the limits of detection of this methodology were 0.005 and 0.01 ng DNA of milk and cheese from goat, and 0.01 and 0.05 ng DNA of milk and cheese from cow. Taken together, this approach was elaborated to address dairy adulteration issues to eliminate the fraud of economically motivated goat milk and cheese adulteration by adding cow milk.     

掺假羊乳及其制品中牛乳的检测技术研究进展

羊乳具有营养价值高、蛋白质组成更接近人乳、脂肪球直径小及致敏性低等优点, 更利于人体消化吸收, 受到消费者和乳品企业的青睐。近年来我国羊乳产业发展迅速且潜力巨大, 但由于受羊乳产量和养殖规模的限制, 羊乳价格昂贵, 市场中存在羊乳及其制品掺假牛乳的现象, 且掺假手段多样, 难以辨别。为了保证消费者的健康和权益, 保障羊乳市场良性发展, 羊乳及其制品的纯正性、真实性检测已经成为热点研究方向。本文通过分析基于乳中蛋白质、脂肪和核酸差异的羊乳中牛乳掺假检测技术的研究现状, 介绍和探讨了各检测技术的基本原理及其在应用中的优缺点, 同时展望羊乳掺假检测技术的发展方向, 旨在为牛羊乳混合掺假检测技术的进一步发展提供资料参考和思路。     

Use of sandwich IgG ELISA for the detection and quantification of adulteration of milk and soft cheese

The aim of this work was to develop an assay capable of detecting adulteration of soft goat, sheep and buffalo milk cheese with bovine milk from cheaper sources. A previously developed indirect competitive ELISA had a lower sensitivity when applied to cheese, compared with milk. A sandwich ELISA was developed utilising the same monoclonal antibody in combination with a polyclonal goat anti-bovine IgG antibody. Once optimised, the ELISA was found to be highly specific. Detection limits in milk were 0.001% cows’ milk adulteration of sheep or buffalo milk, and 0.01% cows’ milk adulteration of goat milk. Detection limits in soft cheese were 0.001% in goat cheese and 0.01% in sheep or buffalo cheese. The assay was highly reproducible with both intra- and inter-assay coefficient of variation <10%. The ELISA performance makes it suitable for development as a kit for use in routine surveillance of milk and soft cheese.     

Measurement of bovine IgG by indirect competitive ELISA as a means of detecting milk adulteration

The aim of this work was to develop an assay capable of detecting adulteration of high premium milk with milk from cheaper sources. An indirect, competitive ELISA was developed for the rapid detection of cows' milk in the milk of goat, sheep, and buffalo. The assay uses a monoclonal antibody produced against bovine IgG. This antibody recognizes a species-specific epitope on the heavy chain of both bovine IgG1 and IgG2. A peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse IgG antibody was used to detect bound monoclonal antibody and subsequent enzymatic conversion of substrate resulted in clear differences in absorbance when assaying different mixtures of milks adulterated with cows' milk. Once optimized, the ELISA was found to be highly specific. Detection limits of the assay are 1.0 microg/mL of bovine IgG, or 0.1% (vol/vol) adulteration with cows' milk. The assay was highly reproducible (CV < 10%) and performed equally well when used to detect bovine IgG in mixtures with the 3 types of milk tested. The ELISA performance makes it suitable for development as a kit, for use in the field as a high throughput screening ELISA.     

DNA-based qualitative and quantitative identification of bovine whey powder in goat dairy products

As one of the main ingredients in some milk powders, whey powder is sometimes added to pure goat milk products, which can cause health risks, economic fraud, and unfair competition of food industries. This study is the first to explore qualitative and quantitative methods to identify adulteration of bovine whey powder in goat dairy products based on DNA. We extracted DNA from whey powder using a modified DNA extraction method; this exhibited good quality and integrity, with purity of 1.53 to 1.75 and concentration of 122 to 179 ng/μL. Conventional PCR and real-time PCR were compared for qualitative detection of bovine whey powder; real-time PCR demonstrated sensitivity of 0.01 ng/μL, which was higher than the 0.05 ng/μL detected by the conventional PCR method. Furthermore, real-time PCR was conducted for DNA quantitative detection, with good linearity (R² = 0.9858) obtained for bovine whey powder contents from 0.1% to 30%. Relative error decreased with increase of the mixing proportion of whey powder; the coefficient of variation above 0.1% of the mixing ratio was close to or less than 5%; and the relative standard deviation of repeatability results was less than 5%. Considering the economic costs of testing, conventional PCR could be performed first, and samples with obvious intentional adulteration detected can be further accurately quantified by real-time PCR. Overall, this research provides a realistic and effective method for qualitative and quantitative identification of bovine whey powder in goat dairy products, thus laying a good foundation for verification of goat dairy product label claims and industrial control.     

Use of MALDI-TOF MS technology to evaluate adulteration of small ruminant milk with raw bovine milk

Detection of adulteration of small ruminant milk is very important for health and commercial reasons. New analytical and cost-effective methods need to be developed to detect new adulteration practices. In this work, we aimed to explore the ability of the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to detect bovine milk in caprine and ovine milk using samples from 18 dairy farms. Different levels of adulteration (0.5, 1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, and 80%) were analyzed during the lactation period of goat and sheep (in May, from 60 to 90 d in milk, and in August, from 150 to 180 d in milk). Two different ranges of peptide-protein spectra (500–4,000 Da; 4–20 kDa) were used to establish a calibration model for predicting the concentration of adulterant using partial least squares and generalized linear model with lasso regularization. The low molecular weight part of the spectra together with the generalized linear model with lasso regularization regression model appeared to have greater potential for our aim of detection of adulteration of small ruminants' milk. The subsequent prediction model was able to predict the concentration of bovine milk in caprine milk with a root mean square error of 11.4 and 17.0% in ovine milk. The results offer compelling evidence that MALDI-TOF can detect the adulteration of small ruminants' milk. However, the method is severely limited by (1) the complexity of the milk proteome resulting from the adulteration technique, (2) the potential degradation of thermolabile proteins, and (3) the genetic variability of tested samples. Additionally, the root mean square error of prediction based only on one individual sample adulteration series can drop down to 6.34% for quantification of adulterated caprine milk and 6.28% for adulterated ovine milk for the full set of concentrations or down to 2.33 and 4.00%, respectively, if we restrict only to low concentrations of adulteration (0, 0.5, 1, 5, 10%).     

基于电子舌的掺假羊奶快速定量预测模型

为实现对掺假羊奶的快速、客观辨别,模仿人体味觉感知机理研制了一套便携式电子舌检测系统,并建立了一种能够快速鉴别掺假羊奶的新方法。系统检测时,首先对样本溶液进行大幅脉冲扫描,用以获取掺假羊奶的"指纹"信息,然后利用离散小波变换(discrete wavelet transform,DWT)对"指纹"数据中的特征信息进行提取,最后在此基础上,采用主成分分析(principal component analysis,PCA)方法对不同掺假比例的羊奶进行定性辨别。采用粒子群优化极限学习机(Particle swarm optimization extreme learning machine,PSO-ELM)对不同掺假比例的羊奶进行了定量预测。通过试验数据得出,PCA对6种不同掺假比例的羊奶区分达到100%,区分效果好。PSO-ELM羊奶纯度预测模型拟合曲线非常接近实测值曲线,因此采用PSO-ELM方法建立掺假羊奶纯度定量预测模型具有较高的预测精度。     

羊乳中掺入牛乳的间接ELISA定量检测

制备抗β- 酪蛋白多克隆血清,免疫吸收封闭与羊乳反应的抗体,获免疫吸收抗体用于乳样的间接ELISA检测中,建立羊乳中掺入牛乳成分的定量免疫学方法。实验表明,该间接ELISA 法用于原乳检测时,掺入牛乳的百分含量与A450nm 在4%～50% 呈线性关系,该方法的最低检出量为4%。所建立的ELISA 方法变异系数＜ 5%,回收率在94%～105% 之间,符合方法学要求,可用于牛乳掺假的定量检测。对灭菌乳的检测表明,热处理不改变β- 酪蛋白与抗体反应的特性,方法还可用于经热加工的乳品检测中。     

Detection of bovine milk adulteration in caprine milk with N-acetyl carbohydrate biomarkers by using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

In a return to tradition, the popularity of caprine milk is on the rise. However, particularly in countries with developed dairy industries based on bovine milk, there is the risk of adulteration with bovine milk, which is a cheaper alternative. Thus, a rapid, robust, and simple method for the detection of bovine milk added to caprine milk is necessary, and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy appears to provide a solution. A matrix of 115 pure and artificially adulterated pasteurized milk samples was prepared and used to discover biomarkers of bovine milk that are independent of chemical and biological variation caused by factors such as genetics, diet, or seasonality. Principal component analysis and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis of pure bovine milk and pure caprine milk revealed spectral features that were assigned to the resonances of 4 molecules. Of these, the peaks corresponding to protons in the N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine acetyl moieties showed significant applicability for our method. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to evaluate the performance of the peak integrals as biomarkers of adulteration. This approach was able to distinguish caprine milk adulterated with 5% of bovine milk with 84.78% accuracy and with 10% of bovine milk an excellent 95.65% accuracy. This study demonstrates that N-acetyl carbohydrates could be used as biomarkers for the detection of bovine milk in caprine milk and could help in protecting caprine milk authenticity.     

Application of immunological methods for the detection of species adulteration in dairy products

A number of enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed for the detection of milk adulteration in dairy products. Target antigens have been caseins, lactoglobulins, immunoglobulins and other whey proteins. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have been used in a variety of formats including direct, indirect, competitive and sandwich ELISAs. ELISAs have been successfully applied to the detection of cows' milk adulteration of sheep, goat and buffalo milk. Goat milk adulteration of sheep milk has also been detected. A number of ELISAs have also been applied to cheese. It is recommended that ELISA should be used in combination with PCR to ensure compliance with current legislation.     

Major proteins of the goat milk fat globule membrane

Fat is present in milk as droplets of triglycerides surrounded by a complex membrane derived from the mammary epithelial cell called milk fat globule membrane (MFGM). Although numerous studies have been published on human or bovine MFGM proteins, to date few studies exist on MFGM proteins from goat milk. The objective of this study was thus to investigate the protein composition of the goat MFGM. Milk fat globule membrane proteins from goat milk were separated by 6% and 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE and were Coomassie or periodic acid-Schiff stained. Most of MFGM proteins [mucin-1, fatty acid synthase, xanthine oxidase, butyrophilin, lactadherin (MFG EGF-8, MFG-E8), and adipophilin] already described in cow milk were identified in goat milk using peptide mass fingerprinting. In addition, lectin staining provided a preliminary characterization of carbohydrate structures occurring on MFGM proteins from goat milk depending on α_S1-casein genotype and lactation stage. We provide here first evidence of the presence of O-glycans on fatty acid synthase and xanthine oxidase from goat milk. A prominent difference between the cow and the goat species was demonstrated for lactadherin. Indeed, whereas 2 polypeptide chains were easily identified by peptide mass fingerprinting matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight analysis within bovine MFGM proteins, lactadherin from goat milk consisted of a single polypeptide chain. Another striking observation was the presence of caseins associated with MFGM preparations from goat milk, whereas virtually no caseins were found in MFGM extracts from bovine milk. Taken together, these observations strongly support the existence of a singular secretion mode previously hypothesized in the goat.     

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach for the characterization of goat milk compared with cow milk

In this work, the polar metabolite pool of commercial caprine milk was studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical data analysis. Experimental data were compared with those of cow milk and the discriminant analysis correctly classified milk. By the same means, differences due to heat treatments (UHT or pasteurization) on milk samples were also investigated. Results of the 2 discriminant analyses were combined, with the aim of finding the discriminant metabolites unique for each class and shared by 2 classes. Valine and glycine were specific to goat milk, talose and malic acid to cow milk, and hydroxyglutaric acid to pasteurized samples. Glucose and fructose were shared by cow milk and UHT-treated samples, whereas ribose was shared by pasteurized and goat milk. Other discriminant variables were not attributed to specific metabolites. Furthermore, with the aim to reduce food fraud, the issue of adulteration of caprine milk by addition of cheaper bovine milk has been also addressed. To this goal, mixtures of goat and cow milk were prepared by adding the latter in a range from 0 to 100% (vol/vol) and studied by multivariate regression analysis. The error in the level of cow milk detectable was approximately 5%. These overall results demonstrated that, through the combined approach of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical data analysis, we were able to discriminate between milk typologies on the basis of their polar metabolite profiles and to propose a new analytical method to easily discover food fraud and to protect goat milk uniqueness. The use of appropriate visualization tools improved the interpretation of multivariate model results.     

牛、羊乳粉的DSC热学性质比较及掺假分析

为明确羊乳粉、牛乳粉的热学特征,采用差示扫描量热法（differential scanning calorimetry,DSC）对真空冷冻干燥制备的全脂羊、牛乳粉样品以及高比例掺假（75%、50%、25%）和低比例掺假（10%、5%、3%、1%）牛乳粉的混合羊乳粉样品进行热力学分析。结果表明,全脂羊乳粉和全脂牛乳粉在DSC热学指标上存在差异,全脂牛乳粉相比全脂羊乳粉缺失一个脂肪特征熔融吸热峰b,蛋白质熔融吸热峰c峰值温度和热焓值较低,而乳糖熔化分解峰e热焓值较高。对于掺入不同比例牛乳粉的羊乳粉,通过检测是否存在吸热峰b及其热焓值,可判断样品掺假牛乳粉比例是否在25%以下及判断掺入牛乳粉的量;在不同比例掺假样品中检测乳糖熔化分解峰e的焓值可判断羊乳粉掺入牛乳粉的掺假量。因此,DSC技术可以实现对羊乳粉、牛乳粉热学性质的分析和评价,也可作为乳制品行业质量保证和真实性鉴别的潜在分析工具。     

Qualitative and quantitative identification of adulteration of milk powder using DNA extracted with a novel method

The extraction of high-quality DNA from processed dairy products is often the crucial step in an authentication process by PCR-based methods. In this study, we optimized a novel DNA extraction method for milk powder and used the extracted DNA for identification of milk powder based on PCR analysis. The DNA quality was assessed by amplifying target sequences from mitochondrial genes, as well as by monitoring the yield, purity, and integrity of the extracted DNA. In addition, a laboratory adulteration model of milk powder was detected by PCR-based methods (PCR and real-time PCR) using primers targeting the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene. Results showed that a sufficient amount and quality of DNA could be isolated from milk powder with this method. Both PCR and real-time PCR detection of cow milk compositions in goat milk powder further confirmed the DNA extracted with this extraction method could be widely used in addressing milk powder adulterant by a PCR-based method.     

Robust PCR‐based method for quantification of bovine milk in cheeses made from caprine and ovine milk

To prevent fraud and enhance quality assurance, credible analysis of dairy products is crucial. A common problem is the addition of cheaper bovine milk to caprine and/or ovine dairy products and when not declared addition of bovine milk constitutes fraud. The aim was to develop a rapid, robust and sensitive method for the identification of adulteration of caprine and/or ovine cheeses with bovine milk. New quantitative real‐time polymerase (qPCR) assays were designed for the specific determination of bovine DNA (Cow1) and bovine, caprine and ovine DNA (BoCaOv). These were applied to 17 samples of caprine cheese and 24 of ovine cheese. Results showed that 17% (7/41) of these cheeses contained >5% bovine milk. As bovine milk was not declared as an ingredient in any of the samples, this represents adulteration. Other cheeses that contained detectable bovine milk at ≤5% (22%; 5/41) might pose a health risk to people allergic to bovine milk.     

Detection of cow milk in goat milk by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

Pasteurized goat milk was adulterated with increasing proportions of cow milk and submitted to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A frontal band, missing from the pattern of genuine goat milk and possessing the same electrophoretic mobility as bovine alpha S1-casein, was expressed. The area of this zone was directly proportional to the amount of cow milk added to the goat milk.     

近红外光谱法用于掺假羊奶的快速无损鉴别

利用近红外光谱技术结合多种化学计量学方法,研究了快速鉴别掺假羊奶的方法。将淀粉溶液,含尿素的淀粉溶液,含尿素和奶油的淀粉溶液按不同比例掺入纯羊奶中,进行近红外光谱采集。分别采用偏最小二乘差别分析(PLS-DA),fisher线性判别和多层感知器(MLP)神经网络法建立校正模型并进行检验验证。结果表明,MLP神经网络的鉴别效果最好,其校正模型的正判率达到99.4%,验证集的正判率达到100%。说明采用近红外光谱技术结合适当的化学计量学方法可以实现羊奶掺假检测的快速无损鉴别。     

A 100-Year Review: Advances in goat milk research

In the century of research chronicled between 1917 and 2017, dairy goats have gone from simply serving as surrogates to cows to serving as transgenic carriers of human enzymes. Goat milk has been an important part of human nutrition for millennia, in part because of the greater similarity of goat milk to human milk, softer curd formation, higher proportion of small milk fat globules, and different allergenic properties compared with cow milk; however, key nutritional deficiencies limit its suitability for infants. Great attention has been given not only to protein differences between goat and cow milk, but also to fat and enzyme differences, and their effect on the physical and sensory properties of goat milk and milk products. Physiological differences between the species necessitate different techniques for analysis of somatic cell counts, which are naturally higher in goat milk. The high value of goat milk throughout the world has generated a need for a variety of techniques to detect adulteration of goat milk products with cow milk. Advances in all of these areas have been largely documented in the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS), and this review summarizes such advances.     

Detection of cows' milk in goats' cheeses inferred from mitochondrial DNA polymorphism

A new polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method was developed to detect cows milk in goat cheese. This method is based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequence variations. DNA extractions from 150 mg of cheese were carried out using a spin column-based method. Subsequent PCR amplifications of DNA were performed with cow specific primers, demonstrating the ability to detect cows' milk in a variety of cheeses. This simple approach provides high quality DNA, and is shown to be very sensitive, with a detection limit of less than 0.1% of cows' milk. Analysis of an agarose gel digital image allows a rough estimation of the percentage of cows' milk used in adulteration.