Adulteration of Halloumi cheese using skim milk powder is a known risk in Cyprus. The fraudsters adjust the composition to comply with PDO specifications for moisture, fat and salt content.
In this paper (open access) the authors prepared reference samples of authentic Halloumi (from a local artisan producer) and their own “PDO-specification” adulterated samples with 1% and 5% skim milk powder inclusion
They tested these reference samples using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) – a measurement of the specific surface area - and Fourier-Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FT-IR). Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to visualize and interpret the spectral data. The specific surface area from BET measurements and the FTIR spectral subregion between 1650 and 1100 cm−1 were key factors, and they were retained for model construction.
The authors plan to build on these initial results by including a wider range of milks and cheeses in the model, and by model validation. They have published at this early stage because they believe this is the first time BET has been applied or shown promise in contributing to such a multi-variate classification model.
