Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Milk to Detect Edible Oil Adulteration: A Potential Challenge for Dairy Industry

It has become a common practice for cattle farmers in India to remove the fat of the milk and then artificially replenish the fat content by adding readily available vegetable oils, such as palm oil, rice bran oil and various others, to sell at the rate of full-fat milk causing a considerable loss to the entire dairy industry. In this preliminary study, we successfully explored fluorescence spectroscopy as a simple detection technique to ascertain the presence of rice bran, and palm oil (vegetable oils) in cow and buffalo milk, showcasing a potential solution to the problem of detecting oil adulteration in milk in addition to being commercially feasible.