Applying of biocrystallization method in order to distinguish milk from organic and conventional production

The growing organic market demands suitable methods which can describe food quality within the organic system as well as to distinguish foods from organic and conventional production systems. Biocrystallization method was developed during 20s of the last century as a supply to traditional chemical methods. This method has been using for decades in researches of medicine producers as well as in scientific research institutions related to development of biodynamic agriculture. It is well known that consumers increasingly care about their health and take into account the quality of the food as to where, when and how the food is produced. Milk produced by methods of organic production has a higher content of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), omega-3 fatty acids and more vitamins A, C and alpha-tocopherol. For many people the main reason for buying organic food is the idea that the organic food is much safer compared to conventional. In accordance with that fact, the need for scientific evidence increases the day by day. As in organic production must be applied a systemic approach as well in testing should be implemented systematic methods such as biocrystallization which must be confirmed and validated in accordance with ISO 70025 standards. The basic principle of this method is crystallization that occurs by adding a solution of CuCl2 in certain amount of prepared food samples to be analyzed. As a result, it produces a specific image (crystallographs) on glass plates and the regularities in the structure of obtained crystal material are a reflection of the internal structure. There are two different methods for assessment of picture patterns. First, visual assessment technique that has been using for a decades and it is working on its standardization by transferring knowledge from sensory analysis to the patterns of visual assessments. Another approach is related to a computerized image analysis, because it is a method that allows assessment of a large number of image patterns. By a group of researches from Netherlands, Denmark and Germany a certain researches of wheat and carrot, produced on farms with conventional and organic production has been carried out and a connection between the parameters of texture with the criteria of visual features in images was established. This standardized method of biocrystallization can be applied for milk and dairy products. Applying of standard and holistic analysis, organic milk was better evaluated compared to conventional. To the pictures obtained by biocrystallization the influence of milk treatment was confirmed. Biocrystallization is mainly used for the comparison of organic and conventionally produced food and the goal of this work was to describe in a convenient way the method and possibility of its application to milk and dairy products because the development of organic production in Serbia is growing rapidly.