No abstract

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the simultaneous separation of 11 metabolically important organic acids (oxalic, formic, citric, succinic, orotic, uric, acetic, pyruvic, propionic, lactic, and butyric), 10 amino acids (Asp, Glu, Tyr, Gly, Ala, Ser, Leu, Phe, Lys, and Trp), and lactose has been optimized, validated, and tested in dairy products. Repeatability and linearity were calculated for each compound, with detection limit values as low as 0.2 x 10(-2) mM for citric acid and Gly. The method was applied to analyze yogurt and different varieties of commercial cheeses. This method yielded specific CE patterns for different varieties of cheese. Also, it has been shown to be sensitive enough to measure small changes in composition of some of those compounds in fresh cheese stored under accelerated ripening conditions for 2 d at 32 degrees C (e.g., from 1728.3 +/- 45.0 to 1166.7 +/- 4.5 mg/100 g of DM in the case of lactose, or from 23.5 +/- 0.6 to 76.8 +/- 16.7 mg/100 g of DM in the case of acetic acid).

Organic acids are relevant in dairy products for nutritional reasons and because they contribute to the flavor and aroma. They are the major products of carbohydrate catabolism of lactic acid bacteria and nonstarter bacteria associated with milk. In several research and quality programs, it is very important to develop a rapid and sensitive method for their quantitative determination in dairy products to monitor bacterial growth and activity. A capillary electrophoresis method for the simultaneous determination of oxalic, citric, formic, succinic, orotic, uric, pyruvic, acetic, propionic, lactic, and butyric acid in less than 18 min has been developed. Various parameters affecting analysis, including capillary length, type, composition, and pH of the electrolyte have been optimized. Some alternatives are given to improve the separation of particular organic acids of special interest. Its application to analyze the quality of some dairy products has been investigated. In addition, the suitability of the technique to determine profiles of organic acids generated during the metabolism of heat-shocked spores has been demonstrated.

Quantification of phosphate and citrate compounds is very important because their distribution between soluble and colloidal phases of milk and their interactions with milk proteins influence the stability and some functional properties of dairy products. The aim of this work was to optimize and validate a capillary electrophoresis method for the rapid determination of these compounds in milk. Various parameters affecting analysis have been optimized, including type, composition, and pH of the electrolyte, and sample extraction. Ethanol, acetonitrile, sulfuric acid, water at 50 degrees C or at room temperature were tested as sample buffers (SB). Water at room temperature yielded the best overall results and was chosen for further validation. The extraction time was checked and could be shortened to less than 1 min. Also, sample preparation was simplified to pipet 12 microl of milk into 1 ml of water containing 20 ppm of tartaric acid as an internal standard. The linearity of the method was excellent (R2 > 0.999) with CV values of response factors <3%. The detection limits for phosphate and citrate were 5.1 and 2.4 nM, respectively. The accuracy of the method was calculated for each compound (103.2 and 100.3%). In addition, citrate and phosphate content of several commercial milk samples were analyzed by this method, and the results deviated less than 5% from values obtained when analyzing the samples by official methods. To study the versatility of the technique, other dairy productssuch as cream cheese, yogurt, or Cheddar cheese were analyzed and accuracy was similar to milk in all products tested. The procedure is rapid and offers a very fast and simple sample preparation. Once the sample has arrived at the laboratory, less than 5 min (including handling, preparation, running, integration, and quantification) are necessary to determine the concentration of citric acid and inorganic phosphate. Because of the speed and accuracy of this method, it is promising as an analytical quantitative testing technique.