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Evaluation of the MilkoScan FT 6000 Milk Analyzer for Determining the Freezing Point of Goat’s Milk Under Different Analytical Conditions

A. Sánchez^*, D. Sierra, C. Luengo, J. C. Corrales^*, C. de la Fe^*, C. T. Morales, A. Contreras^*,1 and C. Gonzalo

^* Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, 30071 Murcia, Spain
Laboratorio Agroalimentario y de Sanidad Animal, Consejería de Agricultura y Agua, Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia, El Palmar, 30120 Murcia, Spain
Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain

¹ Corresponding author: acontrer{at}um.es

The aim of this research was to evaluate the Milko-Scan FT 6000 (Foss Electric, Hillerød, Denmark) for determining the freezing point (FP) of goat’s milk under different analytical conditions. The FP was determined in duplicate in 1,800 milk aliquots obtained from 45 bulk tank milk samples from 10 Murciano-Granadina goat herds, using the MilkoScan method and a reference thermistor cryoscopy method (Advanced Instrument Inc., Norwood, MA). Five different preservation strategies—no preservative, preservation with azidiol (0.006 or 0.018 g of sodium azide/100 mL), and preservation with bronopol (0.020 or 0.040 g/100 mL)—were then used to preserve the milk. For each preservation strategy, 8 different amounts of water were added (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7% total volume). The results obtained with each method under these 40 analytical conditions were examined by comparison of means, comparison of the standard deviations of repeatability (s_r and its relative value s_r%), and a regression analysis. Under most analytical conditions, the FP was recorded as lower by the MilkoScan method, with a mean difference of 1.5 m°C compared with the reference method. Both methods showed similar repeatabilities (the overall s_r% was 0.22% for the MilkoScan method and 0.20% for the reference method). In comparisons of the 2 methods, the highest regression coefficients were obtained with aliquots containing >3% added water. The best regression coefficients (0.85 to 1.02) were obtained for milk samples preserved with bronopol at 0.020 g/100 mL. These results allow the MilkoScan method to be used with goat’s milk for screening purposes. The factors of added water, preservative, analytical method, lactose concentration, and the effect of the bulk tank milk sample within each lactose group contributed significantly to the observed variation in FP. For practical purposes, either of the bronopol concentrations could be used when determining the FP of goat’s milk with the methods tested. However, the increase in the concentration of sodium azide in the azidiol formula contributed to an important reduction in the FP recorded. Thus, the type and concentration of preservative should be taken into account when interpreting FP values.

Key Words: goat milk • freezing point • MilkoScan • milk preservative