AUTOMATIC THERMAL-DESORPTION IN GC ANALYSIS OF DAIRY PRODUCT VOLATILES

Automatic thermal desorption (ATD) has been evaluated for the analysis of volatile components from dairy products. It has resulted in a fast and reproducible method which needs only a low amount of sample. Vola tile components from milk are collected by off-line purging and trappe d on cartridges packed which a suitable adsorbent. Cheese samples are submitted to the same process or directly introduced into the cartridg es. The desorption step that follows is carried out automatically and on-line with the chromatographic analysis. Repeatability and sensitivi ty were satisfactory for both types of products.