organic milk (2)

New NIR Method for Organic Milk

This study aimed to evaluate portable near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in combination with chemometrics to distinguish organic milk from other types of milk, and compare its performance with benchtop NIRS and fatty acid profiling by gas chromatography. The sample set included 37 organic retail milks and 50 non-organic retail milks (of which 36 conventional and 14 green ‘pasture’ milks). Partial least squares discriminant analysis was performed to build classification models and kernel density estimation (KDE) functions were calculated to generate non-parametric distributions for samples’ class probabilities. These distributions showed that portable NIRS was successful to distinguish organic milks from conventional milks, and so were benchtop NIRS and fatty acid profiling procedures. 

However, it was less successful when ‘pasture’ milks were considered too, since their patterns occasionally resembled those of the organic milk group. Fatty acid profiling was capable of distinguishing organic milks from both non-organic milks, even including the ‘pasture’ milks. This comparative study revealed that the classification performance of the portable NIRS for this application was similar to that of the benchtop NIRS.

                                                                                                        

                 Read the abstract at: NIR Method for Organic Milk

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Following Washington Post revelations casting doubt on the authenticity of the products from some of the largest "organic" producers of milkeggs and imported grains, Republican Senator John Faso is proposing a bill in Congress, which would effectively double the budget of the USDA's National Organic Program. The Bill would also call for the modernisation of the USDA system that tracks imports of purportedly "organic" foods, allowing organic inspectors to share investigative information across a supply chain. In addition the USDA would have to file an annual report to Congress detailing its organic investigations. It is hoped the Bill would restore consumer confidence in the USDA organic system, which covers a $47 billion industry.

Read the article at: US Organic Fraud

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