Monitoring the Evolution of Major Chemical Compound in Dairy Products During Shelf-Life by FTIR

Abstract

Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is considered to be a comprehensive and sensitive method to characterize the chemical composition and for detection of molecular changes in different samples. In this study, FTIRspectroscopy was employed as an rapid and low-cost technique in order to characterize the FTIR spectra and identify appropriate spectral regions for dairy product fermented by a lactic culture consisting by species of Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. A second objective was to monitore the key chemical compounds (lactose, lactic acid, flavors) during fermentation and refrigerated storage (1-21 days, at 4-6°C). By FT-IR fingerprint during fermentation we identified changes of the spectra pattern with specific increasing or decreasing peaks for lactose, lactic acid, esters, aromatic compounds, aminoacids, fatty acids. Also the technique was able to identify chemical compounds involved in the microbial activity such as phosphates and phosphorylated carbohydrates during fermentation and dairy product shelf-life. All the major chemical compounds recorded significant increaments during fermentation and refrigerated storage comparing with the raw milk.