Ion chromatography for dairy product analysis: a technical and regulatory review

Abstract

Abstract Ion chromatography (IC) is a well-established analytical technique for quantifying ionic species in complex food matrices, offering high sensitivity, selectivity, and multi-analyte detection capability. This review provides a critical and comprehensive overview of IC applications in dairy product quality control and regulatory compliance, focusing on the determination of electrolytes (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+), inorganic anions (Cl−, NO3−, SO42−, PO43−), organic metabolites (citrate, lactate), carbohydrates, amino acids, and contaminants. A systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus and Google Scholar (2000–2026) using keyword combinations related to ion chromatography and dairy products. From 287 initial records, 98 peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria after full-text assessment. Manual screening of reference lists yielded 110 references, demonstrating that IC contributes significantly to adulteration detection, nutritional monitoring, quality assessment of processing steps (pasteurization, maturation), and compliance with international standards. Major identified gaps include (i) the absence of standardized IC methods for amino acid and peptide profiling in dairy matrices; (ii) the limited application of IC coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry for non-target screening of emerging contaminants; and (iii) insufficient comparative studies between IC and alternative techniques (IC-mass spectrometry or ICP-based methods) across different dairy products. Emerging trends are discussed, including advanced sample preparation (online dialysis), miniaturization (capillary IC), automation, chemometrics and machine learning for fraud detection, and sustainability-driven approaches (green chemistry, reagent-free IC systems). This review aims to contribute to researchers, industry professionals, and regulatory authorities by identifying priority areas for future IC methodological development.