Determination of organic acids in commercial cheeses by high performance liquid chromatography

Commercial cheese samples were analyzed for the presence of organic acids using high performance liquid chromatography. A reverse-phase C18 column at room temperature, a mobile phase of 0.5 % (w/v) buffer (NH4)2HPO4 at pH 2.24 (with H3PO4) and 0.4% (v/v) acetonitrile, UV detector at 214 nm and 0.3 ml/min flow rate were utilized. Formic, pyruvic, lactic, acetic, orotic, citric, uric, propionic and butyric acids were quantitated for White, Feta, Kasar, canned Tulum and skinned Tulum cheeses. Recoveries >86.3% were observed for all acids. Organic acid contents of Kasar cheeses were generally found to be higher than the others