Monitoring the geographic origin of both experimental French Jura hard cheeses and Swiss Gruyère and L’Etivaz PDO cheeses using mid-infrared and fluorescence spectroscopies: a preliminary investigation

Abstract

Abstract The potential of mid-infrared and intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopies was investigated for determining the geographic origin of different hard cheeses. Mid-infrared (1700–1500 cm −1 region), fluorescence emission spectra, following excitation at 250 and 290 nm, and fluorescence excitation spectra following emission at 410 nm were recorded directly on cheese samples. Twelve experimental hard cheeses were made using identical and controlled cheese-making conditions with milks originating from three different regions in Jura (France). The results of factorial discriminant analysis (FDA) performed on the fluorescence and mid-infrared spectra of the experimental cheeses showed a good discrimination of the cheeses. In a second step, 25 Gruyere Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) cheeses manufactured at different altitudes in Switzerland, i.e., 11 Gruyere PDO cheeses from the lowlands (