Differentiation of geographical origin of cream products in Poland according to their fatty acid profile

Fatty acid (FA) composition of bovine milk fat from cream samples, originating from three regions of Poland (one mountainous and two lowland ones) and collected within 2 years, was analysed aiming at identifying the region of production by applying principal component analysis (PCA). From the 44 FAs identified by gas chromatography, two groups were discerned: seasonally variable (n = 17) and non-seasonal (n = 7). The biplots showed that different FAs could serve as markers of geographical origin of cream samples. The CLA, vaccenic acid, C18:39c12c15c, total C18:1trans and C18:39c12c15c n − 6 (GLA) were found indicative of mountainous regions, and the short-chain saturated FAs (SCFA; C4:0-C11:0) - of the lowland ones. The Opole province was characterised by a high content of linoleic acid. It was concluded that the origin of a cream sample could be fairly well identified by gas chromatography combined with chemometric analysis of milk fat FAs.