Dados do Trabalho

Título

RAMAN SPECTROMETRY AS AN ESSENTIAL TOOL IN FRAUD AND ADULTERATION DETECTION OF STARCH AND MALTODEXTRIN IN REQUEIJÃO CHEESE SAMPLES

Introdução

Requeijão cheese is adulterated mainly by adding nutritionally inferior components with low sensory impact and cost, such as starch and maltodextrin. Although they are commonly used, traditional analytical methods can present difficulties in detecting these ingredients in Requeijão cheese, and chromatographic and titrimetric techniques can be expensive. Therefore, the use of faster, more sustainable and low-cost techniques, such as Raman spectroscopy, is an efficient alternative for quality control of these products.

Material e Métodos

Seventeen samples (n=17) of curd cheese from retail stores in different states of Brazil, were selected and analyzed by Raman spectroscopy in the Renishaw Rx 210 spectrometer. To establish the standard starch and maltodextrin curve, control Requeijão cheese samples were intentionally added with 15, 25, and 50% w/w starch and 5 and 10% w/w maltodextrin.

Resultados e Discussão

The samples with starch presence showed intensity peaks of 478cm-1 and 940cm-1, with a proportional increase according to the concentration/addition of starch (p<0.05). Sample A showed higher intensity peaks. In the detection of maltodextrin, the samples showed peak intensity at 940 cm-1, with linear variation according to the treatments (p<0.05).

Conclusão

The results suggest that Raman spectroscopy efficiently detects starch and maltodextrin in Requeijão cheese.