Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Gillian Butler, Dr Sokratis Stergiadis, Emeritus Professor Chris SealORCiD, Dr Michael Eyre, Professor Carlo Leifert
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
This study of UK retail milk identified highly significant variations in fat composition. The survey, conducted over 2 yr replicating summer and winter, sampled 22 brands, 10 of which indicated organic production systems. Results corroborate earlier farm-based findings considering fat composition of milk produced under conventional and organic management. Organic milk had higher concentrations of beneficial fatty acids (FA) than conventional milk, including total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; 39.4 vs. 31.8 g/kg of total FA), conjugated linoleic acid cis-9,trans-11 (CLA9; 7.4 v 5.6 g/kg of FA), and alpha-linolenic acid (alpha-LN; 6.9 vs. 4.4 g/kg of FA). As expected, purchase season had a strong effect on fat composition: compared with milk purchased in winter, summer milk had a lower concentration of saturated fatty acids (682 vs. 725 g/kg of FA) and higher concentrations of PUFA (37.6 vs. 32.8 g/kg of FA), CLA9 (8.1 vs. 4.7 g/kg of FA), and alpha-LN (6.5 vs. 4.6 g/kg of FA). Differences identified between sampling years were more surprising: compared with that in yr 2, milk purchased in year 1 had higher concentrations of PUFA (37.5 vs. 32.9 g/kg of FA), alpha-LN (6.0 vs. 5.1 g/kg of FA), and linoleic acid (19.9 vs. 17.5 g/kg of FA) and lower concentrations of C16:0 and C14:0 (332 vs. 357 and 110 vs. 118 g/kg of FA, respectively). Strong interactions were identified between management and season as well as between season and year of the study. As in the earlier farm studies, differences in fat composition between systems were greater for summer compared with winter milk. Large between-year differences may be due to changes in weather influencing milk composition through forage availability, quality, and intake. If climate change predictions materialize, both forage and dairy management may have to adapt to maintain current milk quality. Considerable variation existed in milk fat composition between brands.
Author(s): Butler G, Stergiadis S, Seal C, Eyre M, Leifert C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Dairy Science
Year: 2011
Volume: 94
Issue: 1
Pages: 24-36
Print publication date: 21/12/2010
Date deposited: 02/02/2011
ISSN (print): 0022-0302
ISSN (electronic): 1525-3198
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2010-3331
DOI: 10.3168/jds.2010-3331
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
