Isotopic and Statistical Methods for the Traceability of Milk and Dairy Products

Milk composition is dependent on the mammalian's specie and on its diet. In particular, the fatty acid distribution is strongly dependent on the species and is significantly correlated to the type of forage used to feed animals. In this work, the Comprehensive Isotopic Data Evaluation (CIDE) method, applied to the carbon isotope ratio of different fatty acids (delta C-13(FAs) values) of milk and dairy products, is shown to be suitable to identify the prevalent type of forage used to feed the animals and, at the same type, the animal breed. Results of isotopic analysis are validated by agglomerative hierarchical clustering methods, providing the reliability of the proposed experimental approach. The strategy here discussed might be also useful to defend Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) dairy products, such as "Mozzarella di Bufala Campana."