AltSU scientists are developing a system for determining the quality of dairy products

The project of an associate professor of the Department of General and Experimental Physics Vladimir Malikov "Development of a multi-parameter system for determining the quality of dairy products" became the winner of the intra-university grants competition for young scientists.

The project involves the development of a software and hardware system capable of performing a comprehensive assessment of the quality of dairy products and determining the degree of their freshness and compliance with the declared characteristics, state standards, and technical specifications.

“In industry, there are many instruments, methods and materials for determining the quality of dairy products. Chemical methods are most often used, they are relatively cheap, but not accurate enough. The progress achieved in recent years in the field of instrumental methods of analysis, microelectronic technology, microprocessor-based programmable information processing tools makes it possible to create a new generation of express analyzers for monitoring the composition and quality of milk. Such an analyzer will ensure low cost of analysis and high accuracy of instrumental methods,” said Vladimir Malikov.

Together with the laboratory assistant of the Department of General and Experimental Physics Polina Shmykova and a graduate student Victoria Kozlova, the scientist is developing a device that will allow determining the mass fraction of protein fat, milk solids, acidity, density and freezing point.

“We use the method of pulsed impedancemetry. The idea belongs to the associate professor of our department Elena Shimko. We have a prototype of the device with two probes that are immersed in milk, and an electric current is passed through them. Using a digital signal generation and reception system based on a personal computer, we evaluate how the electric current changes as it passes through the product. As part of the project, we will have to evaluate how certain parameters of milk affect the signal we receive, to identify patterns. We also plan to connect an optical method based on the principle of transmitting radiation through the sample under study and recording the change in the intensity of this radiation under the influence of the sample,” the scientist clarifies.

Such a system can be used, for example, at milk collection points in the regions of Altai Krai. Today, devices are used there to analyze the quality of raw materials collected from farmers. However, they can only determine the fat content of milk and do not allow for the analysis of other parameters, for example, dilution of milk with technical palm oil to increase fat content - chemical methods are used for this.

During the implementation of the project, scientists also plan to determine the quality of such products as milk, kefir, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, cheese, a milk-containing product with a milk fat substitute produced using sour cream technology, and palm oil.