Authenticity of cheeses concerning differentiation of milk species and recognition of geographical origin by physicochemical analysis

Abstract

The authenticity of foods is becoming increasingly important to many consumers who will pay a premium for products prepared with wholesome and genuine ingredients and free from materials considered undesirable for ethical or religious reasons. Cheese authenticity is defined by the EU legislation for the Protected Denomination of Cheeses and for accurate labelling. This book chapter first covers general authenticity issues associated with various dairy products, after which those most relevant to cheese are reviewed in more detail. There are two main aspects concerning the authenticity of milk and cheese, namely to prevent adulteration and processing during production and secondly to guarantee its authenticity with respect to its geographical origin. Four main technical approaches to the physicochemical analysis of cheeses are considered, namely chromatographic, electrophoretic, immunochemical and spectrometric. To establish its geographical origin several other physicochemical methods are also reviewed. Due to the complex data obtained from the cheese analysis and to the multitude of parameters usually taken into consideration, most of the studies need to be also supported by strong statistical tools.