Rapidly Analyzing Moisture and Fat Content in Dairy Powders

Introduction

The global milk powder market has been increasing over the past decade and is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 4.4% through 2025. Milk powders are used to increase the shelf life of milk without using refrigeration. There are various types of dairy powders including, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, and various whey-based powders. They are widely consumed globally due to their nutritional benefits, which make them important for infant formulas, nutritional drinks, and other baked products. Due to its nutritional value, it is increasingly important for dairy producers to be able to rapidly analyze the fat content of the milk powders during production to maximize not only time savings, but to ensure that the highest quality product is being made.

The ORACLE^TM is a rapid time-domain NMR (TD-NMR) instrument incorporating proprietary technology that allows for direct determination of fat in any food sample. Unlike other rapid techniques, the ORACLE is able to completely isolate the detection of fat in complex matrices, eliminating the need for calibration. To achieve both rapid moisture, solids, and fat testing, the ORACLE can be coupled with a SMART 6^TM moisture and solids analyzer. An assortment of eight samples were obtained and analyzed to demonstrate the ability of the SMART 6 and ORACLE to accurately and reliably determine the fat and moisture content throughout the manufacturing process.