The mineral composition (Ca, P, Mg, K, Na) in cheeses (cows, ewes and goats)

with different ripening times using near infrared spectroscopy with a bre-optic
probe
I. Gonzlez-Martn
a,
, J.M. Hernndez-Hierro
a
, I. Revilla
b
, A. Vivar-Quintana
b
, I. Lobos Ortega
a
a
Departamento de Qumica Analtica, Nutricin y Bromatologa, Facultad de Ciencias Qumicas, C/Plaza de la Merced s/n, 37008 Salamanca, Espaa, Spain
b
rea de Tecnologa de los Alimentos de la Universidad de Salamanca en Zamora, Spain
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 18 June 2009
Received in revised form 25 October 2010
Accepted 29 December 2010
Available online 8 January 2011
Keywords:
Mineral composition
Cheeses
Near infrared spectroscopy
Determination
a b s t r a c t
The results of this work show that it is possible to rapidly quantify calcium, phosphorus, magnesium,
potassium and sodium in unknown cheeses elaborated with percentages (0100%) of milk from different
species (cow, ewe, goat) by direct application of the bre-optic probe on the sample without previous
destruction or treatment of the sample. Of the total number of samples, 170 were used to develop the
calibration models using the Modied Partial Least Squares (MPLS) regression method and 57 samples
were used for external validation. The multiple correlation coefcients (RSQ) and prediction corrected
standard errors (SEP (C)) obtained for calcium (0.74, 0.64), phosphorus (0.69, 0.29), potassium (0.86,
0.13), and sodium (0.92, 0.71) in g/kg respectively and magnesium (0.72, 30.9) in ppm, indicated that
the models developed allow the determination of Ca, P, K, Na and Mg in unknown samples of cheeses
of varying compositions up to 6 months of ripening.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The consumption of cheese is of great nutritional interest due in
particular to its composition of micronutrients. The mineral con-
tent of the milk depends on numerous factors, such as genetic
characteristics, the stage of lactation, environmental conditions,
type of pasture and soil contamination among others (Anguita,
1996; Cichoscki, Valduga, Valduga, Tornadijo, & Fresno, 2002;
Gambelli, Belloni, Ingrao, Pizzoferrato, & Santaroni, 1999; Lucas
et al., 2006a, 2006b; Park, 2000; Patio, Faisal, Cedres, Mendez, &
Guanziroli-Stefani, 2005). The heavy metal in the cheese is funda-
mentally related to the manufacturing practices and possible con-
tamination from the equipment during the process (Mendil, 2006;
Moreno-Rojas, Pozo-Lora, Zurera-Cosano, & Amaro-Lopez, 1994).
The minerals like sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium
and the anionic constituents, phosphate, citrate, chloride, carbon-
ate and sulphate are found in the milk or associated to the casein
micelle (Anguita, 1996; Moreno-Rojas et al., 1994). Their participa-
tion has been demonstrated in the coagulation, drainage of whey
and the texture of the curds and properties such as the stability
to heat and the capacity to coagulate depend on them (Patio
et al., 2005). Particularly during cheese ripening some of the min-
eral salts may migrate from the central part towards the external
layer of the cheese block or vice versa due to the pH gradient effect
causing changes in the concentration of some elements in the nal
product (Moreno-Rojas et al., 1994).
The analysis of the mineral composition in milk and cheeses has
been performed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission
spectrophotometry (Prieto, Franco, Gonzlez, Bernardo, & Carballo,
2002), ion exchange liquid chromatography, instrumental neutron
activation analysis (Gambelli et al., 1999), atomic absorption
spectrophotometry, atomic emission spectrophotometry (Lucas,
Andueza, Rock, & Martin, 2008; Moreno-Rojas, Amaro-Lopez,
Garcia-Gimeno, & Zurera-Cosano, 1995; Moreno-Rojas, Amaro-
Lopez, & Zurera-Cosano, 1992) and ame and graphite furnace
atomic absorption spectrometry (Mendil, 2006).
In the last decades techniques like near infra-red (NIR) spectros-
copy have been developed for the determination of majority param-
eters in cheese (Rodrguez Otero, Hermida, & Centeno, 1997;
Mazerolles, Duboz, & Hugot, 2000), control of ripening, or sensorial
characteristics (Ortiz, Sarabia, Garcia-Rey, & De Castro, 2006;
Karoui, Pillonel, Schaller, Bosset, & De Baerdemaeker, 2007). The
prediction of the mineral composition in fresh and freeze-dried
cheeses by NIR has been performed by (Lucas et al., 2008), previ-
ously grinding the samples of cheese.
Recently, the use of NIRS technology employing a remote reec-
tance bre-optic probe has been studied for the analysis of the per-
centage of milk (cows, ewes and goats) used in the elaboration of
cheeses with different ripening times and also for the determina-
tion of peptides or texture (Gonzalez-Martin et al., 2007; Revilla
0308-8146/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.12.114

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +34 23 294483.

E-mail address: inmaglez@usal.es (I. Gonzlez-Martn).
Food Chemistry 127 (2011) 147152
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Food Chemistry
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ f oodchem
et al., 2009; Gonzlez-Martn, Hernndez-Hierro, Vivar-Quintana,
Revilla, & Gonzlez-Prez, 2009).
In the present work we study the use of NIRS technology to-
gether with the use of a remote reectance bre-optic probe (with
a 5 5 cm quartz window) for the determination of mineral com-
position (Ca, P, Mg, K, Na) in 227 samples of cheeses elaborated
with 16 varying mixtures of milk from cows, ewes and goats with
different ripening times over 6 months. The NIR spectra were re-
corded in reectance mode, applying the bre-optic probe directly
onto the cheese sample, with no sample preparation or manipula-
tion. The reference mineral content was determined by ICP-optic
spectroscopy.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Samples and cheese-making procedure
To perform the present study a total of 227 cheeses of known
composition were elaborated and controlled (Gonzalez-Martin
et al., 2007). Cheeses were prepared in the laboratory following
this procedure: raw milk (40 L), not standardised, was incubated
with 15 mg L
1
direct-vat-set starters made of Streptococcus lactis,
cremoris and Streptococcus diacetilactis, (MA400, Arroyo Laborato-
ries, Santander, Spain) at 30 C. After 10 min at 32 C, 12.5 mg L
1
of calf rennet (90% chymosin, 10% trypsin, 1:150,000 strength)
was added to each vat. Coagulation was allowed to take place over
3540 min. When the curds had developed the desired rmness,
evaluated subjectively, they were cut with a cheese harp until
pieces similar in size to a grain of rice (6 mm) were obtained.
The curd was then stirred for 30 min and heated for 1020 min
at 37 C until it had reached the desired consistency to improve
its drainage with sieves. The curd was packed in round hoops
(1 kg) and pressed for 6 h at 1.5 kg cm
2
at 20 C, with the inver-
sion of the pieces of cheese at the mid-time of the pressed manu-
facturing. After pressing, the cheeses were salted by soaking them
in sodium chloride brine (18% w/v) at 18 C for 6 h. The cheeses
were then moved to a drying chamber, where temperature
(15 C) and relative humidity (70%) were controlled. They were
made of milk collected directly from farms in winter and summer.
Bovine, ovine and caprine raw milk were obtained directly from
the producers in Zamora (Spain). Cheeses with different composi-
tions were elaborated, prepared with known, varying amounts of
milk from cows, ewes and goats, with percentages ranging be-
tween 0% and 100% (Gonzalez-Martin et al., 2007; Revilla et al.,
2009). These were cylindrical, with an initial diameter of 10 cm
and a thickness of 5 cm and they were monitored over 6 months
(at 0.2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months), using one of the pieces at each
time. Each time, a cheese was monitored, the piece was cut in half
transversally and a rectangular slice of approximately 2 cm in
thickness was collected.
Of all the 227 samples, 170 were employed for the denominated
calibration set, and the other 57 were used for the external
validation.
2.2. Plasma ICP-optic spectroscopy
The chemical measures of reference were performed by ICP-
OES, after mineralisation in a system of microwaves Model Ethos
Plus (Milestone). The samples of cheese were ground and dried
with a heater at 105 C for 24 h and subjected to mineralisation
in a microwave system. About 0.5 g of dry, ground sample was
later introduced into a high pressure capsule. In a rst stage
5 mL of HNO
3
were added (c) and a potential of 300 W was applied
for 5 min. Once the sample was cold a further 5 mL of HNO
3
were
added (c) and 1 mL of H
2
O
2
30%, applying a potential of 300 W for
7 min. The sample was cooled to room temperature, made up to
100 mL with distilled water and maintained at 4 C until analysis.
A Jobin Yvon ICP OES model Ultima2 powered by a radiofre-
quency generator at 1100 Wwas used for elemental determination.
The following conditions were used to carry out the elemental anal-
ysis: speed of the bomb: 20 rpm; plasma argon gas ow PL1: 12 L/
min; pod gas ow G1: 0.2 L/min; nebulizer ow: 1.0 L/min; nebu-
lizer pressure: 2.95 bars; with the use of an argon humidicator.
The analytical lines used for the different elements were Ca:
317.9333 nm; K: 766.490 nm; Mg: 279.553 nm; Na: 589.592 nm;
and P: 177.440 nm. The range of the standards concentrations has
been used for Ca, Na and P: 51020 ppm; for K and Mg: 0.25
0.501 ppm (concentrations of the standard dissolution which in
the equivalence in cheese were: Ca, Na and P: 10002000
4000 mg/kg; and K and Mg: 100200400 mg/kg). In those samples
which the concentration was not found in its respective lineal mar-
gin were diluted with ultrapure water and were re-analysed until
they were in the lineal response margin. The detection limits were:
Ca: 10 mg/kg; K: 22 mg/kg; Mg: 10 mg/kg; Na: 36 mg/kg; P: 28 mg/
kg.
The mineralisation and the ICP measurements were carried
out in the Servicio de Anlisis Qumico of the Universidad de
Salamanca, Spain.
2.3. NIR spectroscopy
A Foss NIRSystem 5000 with a standard 1.5 m 210/7210 bundle
bre-optic probe, Ref. no. R6539-A, was used. The probe employs a
remote reectance system and uses a ceramic plate as reference.
The window is of quartz with a 5 5 cm surface area, measuring
reectance in the IR zone close to 11002000 nm. The measure-
ment of the spectra was carried out using NIRS technology and a
remote reectance bre-optic probe that was applied directly to
the cheese samples with no prior treatment or manipulation. The
spectra were recorded at intervals of 2 nm, performing 32 scans
for both the reference and samples. To minimise sampling error,
all the samples were analysed in triplicate. The software used
was Win ISI 1.50 installed on a HewlettPackard Pentium III
computer.
2.4. Statistical analyses
Calibrations were developed using WinISI II version 1.5 (Infra-
soft International). The samples were divided into calibration
(n = 170) and validation (n = 57) sets. All types of cheeses were rep-
resented in both the validation and calibration sets. The modied
partial least squares (MPLS) regression method was used to obtain
the NIR equations for all the parameters studied (Shenk &
Westhaus, 1995). Partial least squares (PLS) regression is similar
to principal component regression (PCR), but uses both reference
data (chemical, physical, etc.) and spectral information to obtain
the factors useful for tting purposes (Martens & Naes, 2001).
MPLS is often more stable and accurate than the standard PLS algo-
rithm. In MPLS, the NIRS residuals at each wavelength obtained
after each factor has been calculated are standardised (dividing
by the standard deviations of the residuals at each wavelength) be-
fore calculating the next factor. When developing MPLS equations,
cross-validation is recommended in order to select the optimal
number of factors and to avoid overtting. For cross-validation,
the calibration set is partitioned into several groups. Each group
is then validated using a calibration developed on the other sam-
ples. Finally, validation errors are combined into a standard error
of cross-validation (SECV) (Davies & Williams, 1996). It has been
reported that the SECV is the best single estimate of the prediction
capability of the equation and that this statistic is similar to
the average standard error of prediction (SEP) from 8 to 10
148 I. Gonzlez-Martn et al. / Food Chemistry 127 (2011) 147152
randomly-chosen prediction sets. In all cases, cross-validation was
performed by splitting the population into four groups. The effects
of scattering were removed using MSC (Multiplicative Scatter
Correction), SNV (Standard Normal Variate), DT (DeTrend) or
SNV-DT, (Dhanoa, Lister, & Barnes, 1995). Moreover, the mathe-
matical treatments were tested in the development of the NIRS
calibrations. The following is an example: 1, 4, 4, 1, where the rst
digit is the number of the derivative, the second is the gap over
which the derivative is calculated, the third is the number of data
points in a running average or smoothing and the fourth is the
second smoothing. The statistics used to select the best equations
were RSQ (multiple correlation coefcients) and the standard error
of cross-validation (SECV).
3. Results
3.1. Chemical composition
Table 1 shows the minimum, maximum and mean concentra-
tions and standard deviations of the mineral composition in cal-
cium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium in the
samples of cheese studied obtained by the method of reference.
The total of 227 samples was divided into two groups, calibration
(170 samples) and external validation (57) sets and the Table 1
presents the values for both groups.
The average levels of calcium (8.1 g/kg) are generally up to 10
times higher in hard cheeses and 4 times more in cheeses with
mould than in milk (Scott, 1989). The average concentration of
phosphorus, 3.73 g/kg, is in agreement with those found in cured
cheeses of goat (3.60 g/kg) (Almenara et al., 2007). The levels of
calcium and phosphorus are higher in cheeses of cow in compari-
son to those found by (Raynal-Ljutovac, Lagriffoul, Paccard, Guillet,
& Chilliard, 2008), which shows that these two elements are found
in similar quantities in the milk of goat and cow; they are the most
abundant in ewes milk.
The relationship Ca: P is 2.2, a high value compared with those
obtained in goats cheeses (Park, 2000) and in cows cheeses
(Jenness, 1980; Prieto et al., 2002). The average content of potas-
sium, 1.26 g/kg is in agreement with other works (Herrera et al.,
2006). The quantity of potassium depends on the animal origin
of the milk, the highest values being presented in cows cheeses
and the lowest in ewes. In addition, the concentration of this min-
eral diminishes throughout the process of ripening, which suggests
that a considerable quantity is lost during the process of elabora-
tion of the cheese, as a consequence of the acidication of the curds
(Almenara et al., 2007).
The high concentration of sodium throughout the whole pro-
cess of ripening, with an average value of 7.99 g/kg, is principally
due to the addition of salt during the process of elaboration and
the period of ripening (Gambelli et al., 1999). Moreover, the sea-
sonal variability is observed, thus the cows cheeses elaborated in
winter present lower concentrations of sodium than the cheeses
elaborated from goats milk; the opposite of what occurs for the
samples elaborated in summer, the higher concentrations of so-
dium are presented in cows cheeses in comparison to those of
goat.
The content of Mg does not present variations throughout the
process of ripening and its average levels of 401.2 ppm coincide
with those found in other studies (Cichoscki et al., 2002; Herrera
et al., 2006; Moreno-Rojas et al., 1994).
3.2. Calibration equation
To obtain the calibrations, a starting set of 170 cheese samples
of varying compositions of cows, ewes and goats milk was used.
Fig. 1 shows the spectra of ten samples. Initially, a principal com-
ponent analysis was carried out (PCA). In all cases, the spectral var-
iability explained was above 99%, and 12 principal components
were required for calcium; 8 for phosphorus; 10 for potassium,
10 for sodium and 11 for magnesium.
The calibration process was implemented with the spectra of
the resulting samples and their chemical data. The statistical
parameters of the calibration were obtained for each of the compo-
nents after removing the samples for spectral (H criterion) or
chemical reasons (T criterion). Anomalous spectra were detected
by applying the Mahalanobis distance. Furthermore, the risk of
Table 1
Main mineral composition of the samples of cheese.
Calibration set (N = 170) External validation set (N = 57)
Element Minimum Maximum Mean SD Minimum Maximum Mean SD
Ca (g/kg) 4.49 40.38 8.11 3.8 5.12 12.56 7.89 1.6
P (g/kg) 2.43 6.03 3.73 0.7 2.35 5.68 3.83 0.8
K (g/kg) 0.62 2.17 1.26 0.4 0.73 1.88 1.23 0.3
Na (g/kg) 2.76 13.92 7.99 2.7 3.83 12.96 7.74 2.2
Mg (ppm) 257.85 686.69 401.19 67.0 269.43 561.96 405.56 58.8
N: number of samples; SD: standard deviation.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
wavelenghts, mn
L
o
g

(
1
/
R
)
(a)
Calcium
-0.08
-0.06
-0.04
-0.02
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
wavelengths, nm
n
o
n
e

/

2

d
e
r
i
v
a
t
e

(
L
o
g
(
1
/
R
)
)
(b)
Fig. 1. (a) NIR spectra of 10 samples of cheese and (b) mathematical treatments
(none/2 derivate) in the spectra.
I. Gonzlez-Martn et al. / Food Chemistry 127 (2011) 147152 149
there being mistakes in the equations under practical conditions is
very low or almost null when the standardised H statistic (Maha-
lanobis distance) is used during routine analysis of unknown sam-
ples. This tells us how different the spectrum of the unknown
sample is from the average spectrum in the calibration set. Sam-
ples with an H-value greater than three may be considered as
not belonging to the population from which the equations are
developed, and in this case the equations should not be used to
make any prediction; 7 samples were removed for calcium; 9 for
phosphorus, 7 for potassium, 6 for sodium and 7 for magnesium.
Calibrations were performed by modied partial least squares
regression (MPLS). Using the T P2.5 criterion, samples that were
different from the population owing to the chemical criterion were
removed from the set. On the basis of this chemical criterion, 7
samples were removed for calcium, 8 for phosphorus, 5 for potas-
sium, 14 for sodium and 8 for magnesium.
Table 2
Descriptors of NIR calibration.
Element N Mathematical treatment SD Estimate RSQ SEC SECV N fac PLS Cross-validation groups RPD
Ca (g/kg) 156 None 2, 4, 4, 1 1.3 3.7511.52 0.74 0.65 0.82 8 4 2.0
P (g/kg) 153 Standard MSC 1, 4, 4, 1 0.5 2.035.28 0.69 0.30 0.33 8 4 1.8
K (g/kg) 158 Standard MSC 2, 10, 10, 1 0.3 0.202.30 0.86 0.13 0.16 8 4 2.7
Na (g/kg) 150 Standard MSC 2, 8, 6, 1 2.7 015.88 0.92 0.74 0.80 10 4 3.8
Mg (ppm) 155 Detrend only 0, 0, 1, 1 60.4 216.17578.82 0.72 31.95 40.25 10 4 2.0
N: number of samples; MSC: Multiplicative Scatter Correction , SD: standard deviation; RSQ: multiple correlation coefcients; SEC: standard error of calibration;
SECV: standard error of cross-validation; PLS: partial least squares; RPD: ratio performance deviation.
4.5
5.5
6.5
7.5
8.5
9.5
10.5
11.5
12.5
4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5
Calcium (g/kg).NIR
C
a
l
c
i
u
m


(
g
/
k
g
)
.
R
E
F
CALCIUM
RSQ: 0.76
SEP: 0.64
SEP(c): 0.64
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5
Phosphorus (g/kg).NIR
P
h
o
s
p
h
o
r
u
s

(
g
/
k
g
)
.
R
E
F
PHOSPHORUS
RSQ: 0.70
SEP: 0.29
SEP(c): 0.29
2.5
4.5
6.5
8.5
10.5
12.5
14.5
16.5
18.5
2.5 7.5 12.5 17.5
Sodium (g/kg).NIR
S
o
d
i
u
m

(
g
/
k
g
)
.
R
E
F
SODIUM
RSQ: 0.93
SEP: 0.71
SEP(c): 0.71
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3
Potassium (g/kg).NIR
P
o
t
a
s
s
i
u
m

(
g
/
k
g
)
.

R
E
F
POTASSIUM
RSQ: 0.87
SEP: 0.13
SEP(c): 0.13
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Magnesium (ppm). NIR
M
a
g
n
e
s
i
u
m

(
p
p
m
)
.

R
E
F
MAGNESIUM
RSQ: 0.74
SEP: 30.80
SEP(c): 30.90
Fig. 2. Correlation of the values obtained in the laboratory with respect to those predicted by NIR with a bre-optic probe for the main mineral composition in cheese.
150 I. Gonzlez-Martn et al. / Food Chemistry 127 (2011) 147152
The best of the different mathematical treatments, concentra-
tion range and standard deviation for calcium, phosphorus, potas-
sium, sodium and magnesium are shown in Table 2. The results
obtained indicate that it is possible to determine calcium, phos-
phorus, potassium, sodium and magnesium in cheeses of varying
compositions of cows, ewes and goats milk by the direct applica-
tion of the bre-optic probe on the samples of cheese, without
treatment or manipulation.
3.3. Validation
3.3.1. Internal validation (prediction)
Models evaluations were performed by cross-validation. In this
method, the set of calibration samples is divided into a series of
subsets, in our case 4. Of these, 3 were taken for the calibration
set and one for the prediction set. The process is repeated as many
times as there are sets, so that all pass through the calibration set
and the prediction set. Using this process, we validated the models
used and checked their prediction capacities. Fig. 2 shows the cor-
relation of the values obtained in the laboratory with respect to
those predicted by NIR with a bre-optic probe for calcium, phos-
phorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium in cheeses elaborated
with different percentages of cows, ewes and goats milk with rip-
ening times of up to 6 months.
3.3.2. Prediction capacity of the model
The prediction capacity of the model obtained was evaluated
with the ratio performance deviation (RPD) (Williams & Sobering,
1996), a capacity parameter that is dened as the relationship be-
tween the standard deviation of the chemical method (SD ref) and
the standard prediction error (SEP) encountered in the NIRS model.
If the RPD value is greater than 2.5 the model is considered suit-
able. Table 2 shows the values obtained for RPD parameter that
were, comprehended between 3.8 for sodium and 1.8 for phospho-
rus. These results demonstrate that the capacity for prediction can
be considered excellent for the potassium and sodium, and accept-
able for calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, indicating that NIRS
technology presents a capacity for prediction that is interesting for
the determination of mineral composition in samples of unknown
cheese of up to six months of ripening elaborated with milk (cows,
ewes and goats) from different seasons.
3.3.3. External validation
We checked the robustness of the method by applying NIRS
technology to 57 new samples of different compositions and ripen-
ing times which did not belong to the calibration group. The proce-
dure was as follows: spectra were recorded in triplicate and the
spectral mean was taken. Then, the calibration equations obtained
during the work were applied and the predicted values were com-
pared with the reference data for calcium, phosphorus, magnesium,
potassium and sodium determined by ICP-optic spectrometry.
The NIRS methodology and the reference data concerning the
calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium were
compared with those of samples not belonging to the calibration
model using the Students t-test for paired values. The levels of sig-
nicance obtained were between 0.65 for magnesium and 0.15 for
phosphorus, potassium and sodium. There were no differences be-
tween the results obtained, so it can be concluded that the method
provides signicantly identical data to the starting reference data.
Table 3 shows the results obtained in the external validation, the
means of the residuals and the Root Mean Standard Error (RMSE)
values.
4. Conclusion
The results obtained in this work are comparable to those ob-
tained in fresh, pure cheeses of cow and goat, using ground sam-
ples of cheese (Lucas et al., 2008). It should be emphasised that
the capacity of prediction (RPD) for potassium and sodium in our
work are higher, whereas for calcium and magnesium they are
lower due to the greater heterogeneity of the cheeses analysed
here.
Moreover, in this work the determination of phosphorus in the
cheeses in a range of 2.035.28 g/kg is achieved. Phosphorus, as is
known, is the second mineral in importance in this type of samples
and affects the capacity of absorption of the calcium.
The most determinant aspect is that the methodology devel-
oped can be applied to any type of unknown cheese, pure or elab-
orated with percentages of milk from different origins without
previously treating or destroying the sample, which is to say, by
direct application of the bre-optic probe on a slice of cheese, with
results comparable to ICP-optic spectroscopy.
Acknowledgements
This study was made possible by funds from Projects CTQ2006-
04383; SA 139A08. We would like to thank Mr. G.H. Jenkins for his
help with the English version of the manuscript.
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K (g/kg) 0.15 0.16 0.22
Na (g/kg) 0.15 1.01 1.52
Mg (ppm) 0.65 39.81 49.80
RMSE: Root Mean Standard Error.
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