Reference material needs for quality assessment of milk and dairy products

Common market organization of milk and dairy products includes regulations intended to guarantee prices and subsidies to some products (e.g. butter and skimmed-milk powder) provided they meet specified compositional requirements. Despite this, only a few reference materials along with robust and easy-to-apply analytical methods to assess the genuineness of dairy products are available. A short description of the problems in establishing authenticity of these products with respect to the available reference materials is presented. Processing innovations and the availability of new ingredients are changing the characteristics of some traditional dairy products. The development of the food policy of the European Union has taken these issues into account by demanding traceability of both finished food and ingredients. Hence, the recognition of product characteristics or processing technology always implies adoption of new analytical approaches along with new reference materials. These requirements demand for more comprehensive knowledge of the food manufacturing chain with special regard to chemical modifications which can be directly related to the quality of the raw materials or the processing conditions. Some analytical approaches considering these requirements as well as the most appropriate characteristics of the related reference material are discussed.