Analysis of Fat and Protein Content in Milk Using Laser Polarimetric Scatterometry

Abstract

Monitoring the composition of milk products is an important factor in the management of dairy farms and industry. Information on the quantitative content of milk components is necessary to control milk quality, as well as to optimize dairy cow nutrition and diagnose their clinical condition. The content of fat and protein is considered the main criterion for determining the market value of milk. Increasing the efficiency of dairy production requires the use of inexpensive and compact devices that are capable of performing multicomponent analysis of milk both directly on the farm and in technological lines. We investigated the possibility of fast simultaneous determination of fat and protein content in milk by laser polarimetric scatterometry. The block-diagonal elements of the scattering matrix were measured for a series of commercially produced milk samples with the indicated fat percentage, which were diluted by volume with water. From the measured scattering matrices, the size distributions of fat droplets and casein aggregates were reconstructed. Using the size histograms, the content of fat and protein and protein-to-fat ratio in the studied milk samples are estimated.