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13 C NMR spectra of TAG: An easy way to distinguish milks from different animal species
Author(s) -
Andreotti Giuseppina,
Lamanna Raffaele,
Trivellone Enrico,
Motta Andrea
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/s11746-002-0445-2
Subject(s) - bovine milk , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , nmr spectra database , cluster analysis , animal species , globules of fat , chemistry , milk fat , food science , biology , spectral line , mathematics , physics , stereochemistry , evolutionary biology , statistics , astronomy , linseed oil
Abstract In order to differentiate milks from different species, we carried out a comparative analysis of TAG from cow, buffalo, goat, and sheep milk fat based on 13 C NMR experiments. NMR spectroscopy, although less sensitive than other techniques, does not require an extensive chemical manipulation of samples and can easily highlight the differences in the content of short‐chain acyl groups in the four milk species. The resonances were assigned and quantified, and by using only three NMR parameters in data clustering with fuzzy logic analysis, we were able to distinguish goats' milk from sheep's milk, and both of these milks from cows' and buffaloes' milks. This appears to be an important result, considering the ease and rapidity with which milk identification can be obtained. From 13 C NMR spectra of TAG, the positional distribution of FA chains on the glycerol backbone can also be easily evaluated. In particular, analysis of the positional distribution of monounsaturated FA revealed that it may be species‐specific, and we are currently analyzing larger data sets in order to evaluate the use of this parameter as a suitable approach to address the issue of milk authenticity.