Near‐infrared spectroscopy: A possible routine analysis to detect the use of frozen curds in the production of Buffalo Mozzarella cheese

Abstract

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana is a pasta filata cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin whose specifications require the use of fresh milk, forbidding the use of frozen curds. The goal is to develop a routine analysis to identify frozen curd presence. The Buffalo Mozzarella samples were analysed by the near‐infrared analytical technique, and the spectral data were processed through an artificial neural network. The results make it possible to identify the use of frozen curd in samples of Buffalo Mozzarella for up to 9 days of storage. The model reported very high accuracy either in training (0.5% of bad prediction) or in tests (6.8% of bad prediction).