Study on detection of adulteration in milk and some milk products.

One hundred and fifty cows' milk and some milk product samples were collected at retail outlets and from street vendors in Sohag province (Egypt) on a random basis including raw milk, UHT milk, thick cream, farmers' butter, imported butter (30 samples each) for detection of various adulterants. Specific gravity added water%, fat% and S.N.F% were determined using an automatic milk analyzer to detect adulteration with the water addition and partial skimming. Additionally, samples were subjected to some chemical analyses to detect different adulterants. The obtained results revealed that the most common methods of adulteration were the addition of water at various percentages, partial skimming or both; and adding preservatives to the examined raw milk samples. Notably, UHT milk and cream were free from any kind of adulteration except the addition of gelation (thickner) which was present in 63.3% of the examined thick cream samples. Additionally, the mean values of iodine number for the farmer's butter and imported butter were 36.34 ± 6.13 and 41.10 ± 7.27, respectively. Interestingly, all the examined samples of farmers and imported butter had no evidence of starch and cotton seed oil. On the other hand, sesame oil was detected in 36.67 % of the examined samples of the imported butter. In conclusion, the qualitative analysis that was conducted demonstrated that some of the milk and milk products purchased did not meet the legal standard. Overall, the obtained findings indicated that some of the milk and milk product samples were adulterated with some adulterants that did not meet the legal standard and may decrease the nutritive value of dairy products as well as cause public health hazards to the consumers.