Detection of fraud by addition cow s milk in cheese buffalo and its connection with seasonality

Abstract

The seasons influence the production of buffalos' milk. Because of this, the producers may produce a mixture of buffalo and bovine milk during cheese production in periods of low production. Therefore, the present work aimed to investigate fraud in buffalo cheese and the relationship between seasonality and different physicochemical properties of buffalo cheeses produced and marketed in eastern Amazonia. We obtained commercial samples of buffalo cheese during two Amazonian climatic periods from commercial points of Marajó-Pará, Brazil. After collection, there were lipid, protein, ash, and humidity analyses. Determination of carbohydrates and energy values was also performed for the nutritional characterization of samples, as well as for mPCR analysis to detect buffalo and/or bovine DNA. DNA extraction protocol of the samples was standardized and two pairs were used for the mPCR reaction, amplifying fragments of approximately 220 bp for Bubalus bubalis DNA and 346 bp fragments for Bos taurus DNA. Among the samples acquired in the rainy season, we observed that 33% were inadequately labeled, indicating fraud from cow's milk incorporation and fraud from substitution of raw material. From the nine samples obtained in the dry season, all the samples showed cow's milk incorporation fraud. The highest fraud rate coincided with the period of low milk production from buffalo and there was a difference in composition between fraudulent and non-fraudulent cheeses. Therefore, seasonality influences increase in cattle milk for the production of buffalo cheese, and this adulteration may decrease the nutritional content of the product.

Standardization of Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for the Authentication of Arapaima gigas fish

“…The food analysis presents some difficulties because it can contain interferers in its composition, such as proteins, polysaccharides, fat, salt, colorants, and others. Besides that, the use of physical and chemical treatments may predispose the DNA fragmentation, which blocks its utilization in the PCR (Marcelino et al, 2008;Cardoso et al, 2019). The extraction methodology proposed has been utilized by several researchers for the obtainment of DNA from milk, cheese and meat samples (Colgan et al, 2001;Brodmann, and Moor 2003;Kesmen et al, 2007;Kesmen et al, 2009;Amaral et al, 2014;Karabasanavar et al, 2014;Dantas et al, 2019).…”