Milk is an extremely complex food, capable of providing essential nutrients as well as being an important source of energy, and high-quality proteins and fats. Due to advances in technology, and to meet the increasing demand, production costs have increased, turning milk into a target of adulterations. Routine methods usually applied to certify the quality of the milk are restricted to microbiological tests, and assays that attest the nutritional composition within the expected values. However, potentially harmful byproducts generated by adulterating substances in general are not detected through these methodologies. In this contribution, we simulated the adulteration of freshly produced milk samples with four adulterants whose use already had reported for extended shelf life: formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, and sodium hypochlorite. These samples were submitted to direct-infusion high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis and multivariate statistical analysis. This approach allows the characterization of a series of molecules modified by the adulterants, what demonstrates how these species affect the nutritious characteristics of this product.

牛奶是一种极其复杂的食品，不仅可以提供必需的营养素，还可以作为重要的能量来源以及优质的蛋白质和脂肪。由于技术的进步，并且为了满足不断增长的需求，生产成本增加了，从而使牛奶成为掺假的目标。通常用于验证牛奶质量的常规方法仅限于微生物学测试，以及证明营养成分在预期值范围内的化验。但是，通常不会通过这些方法检测到由掺假物质产生的潜在有害副产物。在这项贡献中，我们用四种掺假剂模拟了新鲜生产的牛奶样品的掺假，这些掺假剂已被证明具有延长的保质期：甲醛，过氧化氢，氢氧化钠，和次氯酸钠。这些样品已进行直接输注高分辨率质谱分析和多元统计分析。这种方法可以表征由掺杂物修饰的一系列分子，这证明了这些物种如何影响该产品的营养特性。