Determination of organic acids, sugars, diacetyl, and acetoin in cheese by high-performance liquid chromatography

Sugars (lactose, glucose, and galactose), nonvolatile acids (citric, erotic, piruvic, lactic, ossalic, and hippuric), some free fatty acids (formic, acetic, propionic, butyric, isobutyric, valeric, and isovaleric), diacetyl, and acetoin were separated on an Aminex HPX-87H column using a simple isocratic HPLC method and identified by retention times with ultraviolet and refractive index detectors. With the proposed technique it is possible to evaluate the development of microbial fermentations and, at the Same time, degree of cheese ripening.