Discrimination between organic and conventional raw and UHT milk by fatty acid profile in Inner Mongolia,China

The fatty acid content of organic and conventional raw and ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk collected in Inner Mongolia, China was determined by gas chromatography. The results showed seasonal variation of the fatty acid content in milk. The fatty acid content of raw milk was significantly affected by the conventional and organic systems, by which 97.8% of the samples were correctly classified through linear discriminant analysis as from an organic or conventional milking system. A clear difference was observed in the fatty acid profiles of organic and conventional UHT milk of the same brand.