Fast quantification of bovine milk proteins employing external cavity-quantum cascade laser spectroscopy

Fecha de publicación: 30/06/2018

Autores de IIS La Fe

• Julia Kuligowski

  Autor

• Guillermo Quintas Soriano

  Autor

Participantes ajenos a IIS La Fe

• Schwaighofer, A
• Mayer, HK
• Lendl, B

Grupos

• Perinatología

  

  Leader

  Máximo Vento Torres

Abstract

Analysis of proteins in bovine milk is usually tackled by time-consuming analytical approaches involving wet-chemical, multi-step sample clean-up procedures. The use of external cavity-quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) based IR spectroscopy was evaluated as an alternative screening tool for direct and simultaneous quantification of individual proteins (i.e. casein and beta-lactoglobulin) and total protein content in commercial bovine milk samples. Mid-IR spectra of protein standard mixtures were used for building partial least squares (PLS) regression models. A sample set comprising different milk types (pasteurized; differently processed extended shelf life, ESL; ultra-high temperature, UHT) was analysed and results were compared to reference methods. Concentration values of the QCL-IR spectroscopy approach obtained within several minutes are in good agreement with reference methods involving multiple sample preparation steps. The potential application as a fast screening method for estimating the heat load applied to liquid milk is demonstrated.

Keywords

• External cavity-quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL); Total protein; Casein; beta-lactoglobulin; Bovine milk analysis; Chemometrics