In-depth lipidomic profiling and classification of Greek bovine, ovine, buffalo, caprine and donkey milk by LC-MS/MS QTOF

Milk lipidomics has recently been a topic of intense research interest. The notion is that milk lipids have specific roles in human diet and research has been indicative of the potential benefits of specific lipids. However, the entirety of the milk lipidome was relatively understudied, mainly due to equipment limitations. Recently, state of the art equipment and novel approaches on the lipidomic characterization of bovine milk [ 1 ], [ 2 ], have helped to reveal the potential health benefits of specifics lipids and lipid classes [ 3 ]. Such developments suggest the need for a detailed lipidomic characterisation of milk produced by different farm animal species in Greece, that would benefit the dairy sector but also consumers. Here, an in-depth lipidomic investigation is performed on five types of milk produced in Greece: bovine, ovine, buffalo, caprine and donkey, focusing mainly on the most abundant lipids in milk: triglycerides. Our results and statistical analysis demonstrate that the classification of milk is possible based solely on the lipidomic profiles of the analysed milk samples. Other potential applications of the extracted lipidomics profiles along with challenges faced for correct lipid identification are also discussed. Acknowledgment This work was supported by the project “Foodomics-GR – National Research Infrastructure for the Comprehensive Characterization of Foods” (MIS 5 029 057), funded by the Operational Programme NSRF 2014 – 2020 and co-financed by Greece and European Regional Development Fund. # Publication History Article published online: 12 December 2022 © 2022. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany