Dairies 'taking hardline' on milk powder adulteration: PerkinElmer

The US firm launched DairyGuard, a near infrared (NIR) spectrometer-based milk powder analyzer, at this week's International Dairy Show in Chicago. According to PerkinElmer, DairyGuard is the only available system that tests for unknown adulterants, as well as known compounds, such as protein, moisture and fat content.

Speaking with DairyReporter.com in Chicago, PerkinElmer's Robert Packer said that the DairyGuard analyzer was developed in response to the steady stream of recent milk powder adulteration scandals in countries such as Brazil, India and China.

"In the past, the milk powder and food processors have had a problem, but they actually asked us, a few of them, to start working on it,"​ said Packer.

Packer added, however, that milk powder adulteration isn't exclusively a developing market issue.

"Despite the fact that a lot of food processors will use liquid milk from local dairies, if the milk is in powder form it is easily exported. So it can come from other countries as well,"​ he said.

"Although the food processors may be Western-based and in a developed country, they may be buying their milk powder from say India and China etc."​

"The threat for developed countries is more people exporting milk powder in,"​ he added.