Chinese dairy products giant Mengniu completes testing of ‘electronic nose’ for milk control

Alpha MOS, a specialist in odor, taste and visual analyzers for the industry, announces the official validation of its solution for milk quality control by the Chinese group Mengniu, said to be the seventh largest dairy group in the world and the leader in China.

This validation comes 6 months after the signature of a 2-year framework contract with the distribution company Lan Chou Instruments to equip Mengniu with Heracles NEO electronic noses.

Mengniu is used to testing the most advanced technologies to monitor the quality of its products.

They are the manufacturer first equipped with three Heracles NEO instruments to monitor under operational conditions the changes in the odor of its products over time, signs of possible abnormal aging, and also to validate the origin of the milk received in its processing plants.

The equipment validation process was achieved in several steps. After two months of continuous testing by electronic noses and human panels in parallel, Mengniu’s Quality Department, with the support of Alpha MOS engineers, established a statistical model for advanced sensory data processing.

Two new cycles of data collection were carried out to improve the database and the calculation algorithm.

Still with a technical support from Alpha MOS, the database was finally optimized to allow to control in a systematic way the smell of raw milk from different origins, to confirm their quality and to avoid the risks of adulteration.

The Quality Department of the Chinese group explains in its press release: “It is the principle of Mengniu quality to use the most advanced equipment and technology to test the quality of products.

“The inspection office of the high-tech factory worked 6 months to validate (the instrument). A total of 859 sets of data were tested by different sample components and by all raw milk suppliers.

“As a result of these tests, the introduction of the French electronic nose Heracles NEO was confirmed.”

The electronic noses are now used daily in the first two sites equipped. Eventually, the objective is that the forty sites of the customer can check the integrity of the raw milk deliveries in a few minutes as soon as they arrive at the collection center.

With the regular support of the Alpha MOS team engineers, the quality control process is constantly being optimized. Thanks to this continuous improvement work, the cost and time of checking a sample have already been significantly reduced.

Satisfied with this first collaboration, the Quality Department of Mengniu is now testing the Iris, the electronic eye of Alpha MOS, in other applications such as the aging of processed dairy products and the conformity of labelling.

Pierre SBABO, CEO of Alpha MOS, recently visited the headquarters of Mengniu. He says: “The public validation of our sensory analysis solutions by Mengniu’s technical teams, beyond the immediate potential of deployment in all or part of their production sites, is a key step in the adoption of our equipment by major food industry accounts and is fully in line with Alpha MOS’ growth strategy.”