Optical Fiber Technology 47 (2019) 15–20

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Optical Fiber Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yofte

U-bent plastic optical fiber probes as refractive index based fat sensor for T
milk quality monitoring
⁎
Gowri Annasamy, Allwyn S. Rajamani, Ramakrishna Bandaru, Sai V.V.R.
Biomedical Engineering Group, Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Milk fat content is an important parameter for milk quality assessment in the dairy industry. This study reports
U-bent plastic optical fiber probe the development of a hand-held, highly sensitive fiber optic milk fat sensor using U-bent plastic optical fiber
Fiber optic sensor (POF) probes based on the refractive index (RI) of milk, an inherent physicochemical property of milk, which is
Evanescent wave absorbance significantly influenced by the milk fat content. The U-bent POF sensor probes facilitate dip type sensing and
Refractive Index
offer non-destructive assessment of milk quality in real-time. The sensor works on the principle of intensity
Milk fat
modulation technique by exploiting evanescent wave absorbance and refractive losses. The fiber optic probes
sense a change in RI of the medium as a result of attenuated total reflection by virtue of the evanescent wave
interactions of light at the fiber core/cladding interface with the surrounding medium. A relative change in the
refractive index property of milk as a result of variation in fat content and addition of water is investigated using
U-bent POF probes for milk quality assessment. The sensor shows an optical absorbance sensitivity of 0.15 ΔA/
Δ% fat for the variation of fat content in the milk. Besides, the response of the sensor to water addition in wide
concentration range was studied. Furthermore, a low cost portable optoelectronic device is reported for in-
stantaneous milk quality monitoring in farm fields. This sensor could be of huge potential in dairy industries,
milk collection centers as well as end-user applications for real-time milk quality monitoring.

1. Introduction
Recently, the quality of milk has become a major concern, which led
to a huge demand for a rapid, environment friendly, cost-effective and
field-deployable handheld device for milk quality assessment [1–3]. In
addition, the inability to meet the growing demands for milk has led to
the severe problem of milk adulteration at least in the developing
countries which requires the use of sophisticated spectroscopic tech-
niques for specific detection of adulterants in milk [4–8]. Although, the
milk composition could be identified from the molecular absorption
bands using spectroscopic technique, the abovementioned techniques
require expensive instrumentation and lengthy procedures which make
them impractical for applications at point of sale/use. As an alternative,
a few low-cost milk testing kits for specific detection of multiple adul-
terants have been explored and commercialized [9–12].
The key parameters considered for evaluating the quality of milk are
fat, solid not fat percentage, protein content and appearance. Among
these parameters, milk fat is responsible for the properties and sensory
attributes of milk and other dairy products [13,14]. The complex re-
fractive index value of the milk is known to vary with its fat content
[15]. Ability to monitor the milk fat content in real-time is highly
desirable for process control in dairy industry. However, the Gerber
method, well established and widely used for quantification of milk fat,
is laborious and involves use of hazardous chemicals leading to wastage
of milk. In most of the dairy collection centers, electronic milk tester
and lactometer are utilized for measuring fat content and corrected
lactometer reading to evaluate milk quality. However, these techniques
require large sample volume and do not facilitate online monitoring
and are limited by their efficiency and subjectivity in measurements.
Recently, the biophysical properties of milk such as electrical im-
pedance and pH have been exploited for milk quality monitoring [16].
Refractive index and optical extinction (absorption and scattering)
properties of milk have also been extensively studied for evaluation of
milk fat percentage and chemical composition [17,18]. Refractive index
(RI) property of milk as a measure for its quality monitoring has several
advantages including non-destructive evaluation by optical phe-
nomena, low interference from bulk solution and possibility for online
monitoring. Fiber optic RI sensors have been explored as an alternative
to the conventional prism based refractometers, mainly due to higher RI
sensitivity, simpler instrumentation, wide operating range, remote
monitoring and multiplexing [19]. A variety of fiber optic sensors based
on evanescent wave absorbance with simple decladded and

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: vvrsai@iitm.ac.in (V.V.R. Sai).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yofte.2018.11.019
Received 19 September 2018; Received in revised form 5 November 2018; Accepted 9 November 2018
1068-5200/ © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A. Gowri et al.
geometrically modified fiber core [20] have been reported to achieve
an enhanced RI sensitivity, in addition to use of specialty fibers and
microfabricated waveguides such as microstructured optical fibers
(MOFs) [21], fiber bragg gratings (FBGs) [22], cladding stripped fiber
tapers [23] and ring resonators [24]. Over the past decade, plastic
optical fiber (POF) based RI sensors have been widely explored due to
several advantages including low-cost, less fragility and robustness,
ease in handling and optical coupling. POF can be easily decladded and
modified into various geometries including U-shape or coiled as re-
ported in our earlier studies [25]. These sensor geometries enable im-
proved light-matter interactions at the fiber core-medium interface by
virtue of evanescent wave phenomenon, thereby allowing development
of intensity-modulated RI sensors. Recently, coiled POF probes
(2–3 mm fiber diameter) have been exploited for detection of pre-
servatives in milk based on RI changes [26].
Here, we present a compact, dip-type U-bent plastic optical fiber
sensor with high refractive index sensitivity for milk fat sensing. U-bent
fiber geometry is chosen in this study mainly due to enhanced sensi-
tivity because of improved evanescent wave interactions and ergonomic
design compared to other fiber geometries [27]. Our previous study
shows optimal design of U-bent POF probes for development of highly
sensitive RI sensors [25]. In this study, U-bent probes with fiber and
bend diameters of 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm respectively are subjected to
commercial milk samples of varying fat content (toned, standardized
and full cream) to realize a sensitive real-time milk fat sensor. In ad-
dition to milk fat sensing, the application of these probes for milk
quality monitoring is investigated by testing the response of the probes
subjected to milk samples diluted with different percentages of water, a
common adulterant added to milk in a day-to-day life. Further, a
handheld optoelectronic device suitable for field applications is devel-
oped in-house and tested with fresh unpasteurized and various com-
mercial packaged milk samples. This highly sensitive fiber optic sensor
for milk fat sensing could offer several advantages including rapid re-
sponse with real-time monitoring ability, minimum sample volume
down to 100 µL and non-destructive analysis.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials and reagents
The plastic optical fiber (SK20) was procured from Mitsubishi
Rayon Pvt. Ltd., Japan. Ethyl acetate was purchased from Merck. Fresh
cow and buffalo milk obtained from local farms and packaged milk with
different fat percentages (toned (T) - 3%, standardized (S) - 4.5% and
full cream (FC) - 6%) sold under different brands obtained from local
ISO certified milk centers. LED and photodetector (PD) were purchased
from Digikey Electronics.
2.2. U-bent POF probe design
The plastic optical fiber consists of polymethylmethacrylate
(PMMA) core and fluorinated polymer cladding with refractive indices
of 1.49 and 1.41 respectively. The POF of 0.5 mm diameter was bent
into U-shape by means of glass capillary technique as discussed in our
earlier studies [25]. Briefly, a 20 cm long POF was bent to bring the two
ends close to each other and pushed into a glass capillary having inner
diameter of 2 mm such that the bend portion of the fiber is within the
capillary. Subsequently, the glass capillary loaded with POF was placed
in a hot air oven and heated at 80 °C for 20 min in order to deform the
POF to obtain a permanent U-shape with a desired bend diameter of
1.5 mm, which is close to the optimum value for highest RI sensitivity
(Fig. 1A). The calculation of fiber bend diameter is shown in Fig. 1C.
Then, the U-bend region of the probe was dipped in ethyl acetate for
2 min to remove the cladding over a probe length of 5 mm. The U-bent
sensing portion was wiped with a lint free tissue to remove the flakes
over the bent portion and cleaned with DI water.
16
Optical Fiber Technology 47 (2019) 15–20
2.3. Milk sample preparation
Commercial packaged pasteurized milk including toned, standar-
dized and full cream (with 3%, 4.5% and 6% of fat respectively) and
fresh unpasteurized cow and buffalo milk were selected in this study.
The fat and SNF values of fresh and packaged milk samples were
quantified using standard gravimetric and Werner Schmidt methods
[28]. In this method, Conc. HCl is used to digest milk proteins and
released fat is extracted using ethers. The residue left behind after
evaporation of ether is weighed to determine the milk fat content. The
influence of water addition to milk on the response of the probes was
carried out by adding known quantities of water to standardized milk
samples. All experiments were carried out at room temperature and
utilized DI water as reference.
2.4. Experimental set-up
The optical set-up consists of the U-bent POF probe with either of its
distal ends connected to a halogen light source and a fiber optic spec-
trometer (HL2000 and USB4000-XR1-ES respectively, Ocean Optics
Inc., USA) with the help of bare fiber adaptors and SMA connectors
(BFT1 and B10510A respectively, Thorlabs Inc., USA) as shown in
Fig. 1B. The U-bent POF sensor response to various milk samples was
recorded using SpectraSuite software. For each spectral recording, 100
spectra were averaged to achieve better signal to noise ratio. Reference
spectrum was taken while the decladded sensing portion of the U-bent
probes was dipped in DI water, before subjecting the probes to various
milk samples (100 µL in a PCR tube) to record the respective absor-
bance spectra in real time. All the experiments were done in triplicate.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterization of milk samples using standard technique
The milk fat percentage and RI of the milk samples used in this
study are evaluated using standard Werner Schmidt technique and re-
fractometer. Fig. 2A shows the milk fat content estimation in which
there is an increasing trend observed for milk samples with increase in
fat percentage. However, the huge standard deviation could be attrib-
uted to the manual intervention in handling the samples. Fig. 2B shows
the increasing trend in the RI of the samples with an increase in milk fat
content. This is in correlation with the reported literature stating the
influence of fat content on the RI changes of the milk [13].
3.2. U-bent fiber probes as milk fat sensors
Fat percentage is one of the important parameters for the milk
quality assessment [13]. The complex refractive index value of the milk
is known to vary with its fat content. Ability to monitor the milk fat
content in real-time is highly desirable for process control in dairy in-
dustry. Here, experiments were carried out to investigate the ability of
the U-bent POF probes to distinguish milk samples with different fat
content. Commercial packaged milk samples with different fat percen-
tages (toned, standardized and full cream) were considered for this
study. The absorbance response from the probe in presence of the milk
samples with respect to DI water as reference was recorded. The ab-
sorbance is calculated as the logarithmic ratio of the initial light in-
tensity to the final light intensity while subjecting the probes to DI
water followed by various milk samples. Fig. 3A shows the absorbance
response in which the probes showed almost a flat trend in the visible
wavelengths. The absorbance response at 530 nm is considered for
further experiments because of the availability of low cost green light
sources. The increase in absorbance could be attributed to the sig-
nificant variation of RI with increasing fat percentages which is in
correlation with the reported literature [29,30]. Hence, it confirms the
higher influence of fat on the RI sensitivity of the sensor probes in
A. Gowri et al. Optical Fiber Technology 47 (2019) 15–20

DGC BD

RF
DGC = BD + 2*RF
Fig. 1. (A) U-bent POF probe (0.5 mm fiber diameter with 1.5 mm bend diameter) (B) Experimental setup consisting of U-bent POF probe (UPOF) coupled to a
halogen light source (LS) and a fiber optic handheld spectrometer (FS) (C) The bend diameter (BD) of the probes obtained from glass capillary method is calculated by
subtracting twice the fiber radius (RF) from the diameter of the glass capillary (DGC).

comparison to protein and other solid-not-fat (SNF) content.
Fig. 3B shows the real-time response of the probe to the milk sam-
ples with different fat percentages. The probe shows an instantaneous
increase in absorbance upon subjecting it to milk. No considerable rise
in absorbance was observed during incubation of a probe in water,
indicating a negligible influence of adsorption of protein or fat, if any,
to the probe surface. The response of U-bent probes is shown in Fig. 4.
An approximately 3-fold increase in absorbance with an increase in %
fat was achieved demonstrating a sensitivity of 0.15 ΔA/Δ% fat. The
probes are cleaned with mild handwash following by DI wash for
2–3 min to remove any adsorbed constituents on the probe surface.
3.3. Influence of water addition to milk on sensor response
Addition of adulterants to milk is likely to alter its RI [14]. The
common practice for milk adulteration is addition of water to increase
the volume to meet the increased consumers demand. The U-bent POF
probe (0.5 mm fiber diameter) was exploited to test the change in re-
fractive index of the milk upon addition of water to milk in different
ratios. The milk samples were prepared by diluting standardized milk
with DI water to obtain samples with 1% to 90% dilution. The re-
fractive index values of these milk samples were measured using a
handheld refractometer (Atago, PAL1) before subjecting them to U-bent
POF probes. The sensor was connected between halogen light source
and fiber optic spectrometer. The absorbance spectra of milk samples
diluted with water was recorded by dipping the U-bent POF probe in
packaged and water diluted milk samples (Fig. 5A). A change of
∼0.2174 abs. units was obtained from the U-bent POF sensor for dif-
ferent percentage of water dilution up to 50%. No significant absorption
bands except scattering by milk solids were observed through the U-
bent POF probes. The probes show a reduction in absorbance with an
increase in the water dilution from 1% to 90% due to reduction in their
refractive index value (Fig. 5B). More importantly, a significant drop in
absorbance with respect to pure milk was observed with water dilutions
between 1% and 20%, which is the most probable range of water
adulteration. A measurable change in absorbance of 0.08 units was
obtained for addition of DI water as low as 5% v/v. The U-bent probes
demonstrate an ability to efficiently monitor as low as 1% v/v of water
dilution, which is five times better than that of a study based on mea-
surement of change in electrical conductivity of milk reported else-
where [16].
The results demonstrate the ability of the probes to respond to the
changes in the RI of the milk upon adulteration with water. However, it
is important to realize that identification of adulteration in milk could
be more challenging as a combination of various adulterants, such as
water and urea, could be utilized to trick the property of milk. Hence,
measurement of a single parameter of milk, such as the RI alone, might
not be sufficient to identify the adulteration in milk. Similar observa-
tions have been made by Tripathy et al. 2017 [16] while proposing
electric impedance and pH of milk as a measure for the identification of
adulteration in milk.

Fig. 2. (A) Milk fat content estimation using standard Werner Schmidt method (B) Measurement of milk refractive index using refractometer for milk samples with
varying fat percentages.

17
A. Gowri et al. Optical Fiber Technology 47 (2019) 15–20

Fig. 3. (A) Absorbance response from U-bent POF probe while subjecting to milk samples with different fat percentages (B) Temporal response from a U-bent POF
sensor upon exposure to commercial milk samples with different fat content demonstrating almost instantaneous response Note: The fat percentages mentioned in the
plot are calculated using standard technique.

3.4. Portable U-bent POF milk fat sensor for field applications

Fig. 4. Sensor response to milk samples of different fat content (n = 3). The
probes gave a statistically distinguishable response with p < 0.1 (as indicated
by ‘*’). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
The transformation of U-bent POF probes as milk fat sensor for field
applications is achieved by developing a compact, battery-powered
hand-held device. The handheld optoelectronic device consisting of a
pair of LED and PD in a plastic casing, relevant electronic circuitry and
a digital voltmeter was built in-house (costs less than US $5) as a read-
out device (inset of Fig. 6). U-bent POF probes were connected between
LED and PD housed in the hand-held device. The output of PD response
was obtained in terms of voltage. The performance of the handheld
fiber optic sensor as a fat sensor is evaluated by subjecting it to three
full-cream milk samples sold under different commercial brand names
as well as fresh cow and buffalo milk samples. The fat and SNF values of
fresh and different brand packaged milk samples were quantified using
standard gravimetric and Werner Schmidt methods [28]. Cow and
buffalo milk samples show a fat percentage of 4.56% and 5.33% re-
spectively. The voltage output of the sensor subjected the above sam-
ples was measured and normalized with respect to that of DI water
reference (Fig. 6). The U-bent POF probes show an increase in the
voltage drop with increasing fat content as they are subjected to cow
followed by buffalo and full cream milk samples. These results are in
agreement with the absorbance response recorded for milk with dif-
ferent fat content (Section 3.2). These results demonstrate the ability of
the sensor to detect the difference in milk composition of each brand,

Fig. 5. (A) Absorbance response of U-bent POF probe to milk sample diluted with different percentage of water (1% to 90%). (B) Refractive index values of milk
samples diluted with water as measured using a commercial refractometer (red) and respective absorbance response at 530 nm wavelength from U-bent POF probes
(blue). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

18
A. Gowri et al.
Fig. 6. Fiber optic sensor response as recorded from hand-held optoelectronic
device while subjecting to different milk brands. Brands I and II correspond to
fresh cow and buffalo milk respectively, while Brands III, IV and V are com-
mercial packaged full cream milk sold under different brand names. The data
shown is an average of voltage response from 3 different probes. The probes
were rinsed in DI water before and after subjecting them to the various milk
samples.
which could be due to various reasons including milk processing, var-
iation in SNF (solid not fat), fat content or density of the milk. Hence,
these sensitive U-bent POF sensors could be highly useful for milk
quality monitoring at all stage of processing.
The handheld dip-type fiber optic sensor presented here offers rapid
detection (< 10 s) with minimal sample volume of (< 100 µL), in
comparison to the laborious standard analytical techniques for fat
analysis [28]. On the other hand, the commercially available milk
analysis equipments (capable of multiparameter measurement in-
cluding %fat, SNF and density) meant for milk quality monitoring suffer
from longer analysis time (40 s) and time-consuming cleaning steps.
There are limited studies on sensor technologies for fat sensing in the
scientific literature. It is noteworthy to mention here that hand-held
devices for milk fat sensing are still in infancy. In this direction, these
sensors could be exploited for in-line milk quality monitoring as an
economical alternative to off-line spectroscopic techniques [7].
4. Conclusion
A reusable and portable dip type fiber optic sensor for non-de-
structive assessment of milk quality is developed and experimentally
verified. The ability of U-bent POF based RI sensor for detecting the fat
content in milk is demonstrated and experimentally verified by testing
with commercial packaged milk samples of different fat percentages. A
handheld optoelectronic device is designed and developed mainly to
emphasize the potential of fiber optic probes as milk fat sensor from
laboratory stage to field usage. The experimental investigation con-
cludes the ability of probes to distinguish (i) milk samples having dif-
ferent fat percentages with sensitivity of 0.15 ΔA/Δ% fat and (ii) ad-
dition of water less than 20% which is the most probable range of milk
adulteration. The results also highlight the limitation of a single mea-
surement based on the RI property alone to identify the adulteration in
milk. This study could be extended by exploiting a combination of one
or two biophysical properties of milk in addition to RI for the identi-
fication of adulteration in milk. The proposed device could be highly
promising for widespread applications including monitoring of the milk
19
Optical Fiber Technology 47 (2019) 15–20
quality from the cattle in the farm, as a highly sensitive fat sensor at
milk collection centers for valuation of milk from farmers (specific to
Indian conditions), real-time process monitoring in milk products
manufacturing units and consumer needs to assess the milk quality.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank National Agro Foundation Lab, Anna University
for extending their help in validation of milk samples. AG thank
Hariharan M, Divagar M, Ms. Ranjani and Prof. A. Kannan, Head, Dept.
of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras for their help in milk sample
collection and refractometer facility. AG acknowledges the financial
support by Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD),
Government of India.
References
[1] H.E. Lippman, J.F. Desjeux, Z.Y. Ding, K. Tontisirin, R. Uauy, R.A. Pedro, P. Van
Dael, Nutrient recommendations for growing-up milk: a report of an expert panel,
CRC CR Rev. Food Sci. 56 (2016) 141–145.
[2] T. Azad, S. Ahmed, Common milk adulteration and their detection techniques, Int.
J. Food Contamination 3 (1) (2016) 22.
[3] S. Bansal, A. Singh, M. Mangal, A.K. Mangal, S. Kumar, Food adulteration: Sources,
health risks, and detection methods, CRC CR Rev. Food Sci. (2017) 1174–1189.
[4] D.M. Reddy, K. Venkatesh, C.V.S. Reddy, Adulteration of milk and its detection: A
review, Int. J. Chem. Stud. 5 (4) (2017) 613–617.
[5] A. Poonia, R. Jha, H.B. Sharma, A.K. Singh, N. Rai Sharma, Detection of adultera-
tion in milk: A review, Int. J. Dairy. Technol. 70 (1) (2017) 23–42.
[6] P.M. Dos Santos, L.F. Costa, E.R. Pereira-Filho, Study of calcium and sodium be-
havior to identify milk adulteration using flame atomic absorption spectrometry,
Food Nutr. Sci. 3 (09) (2012) 1228.
[7] S. Kawamura, M. Kawasaki, H. Nakatsuji, M. Natsuga, Near-infrared spectroscopic
sensing system for online monitoring of milk quality during milking, Sens. Instrum.
Food. Qual. Saf. 1 (2007) 37–43.
[8] Z. Guo, Z. Cheng, R. Li, L. Chen, H. Lv, B. Zhao, J. Choo, One-step detection of
melamine in milk by hollow gold chip based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering,
Talanta 122 (2014) 80–84.
[9] S.C. Mukhopadhyay, C.P. Gooneratne, S. Demidenko, G.S. Gupta, Low cost sensing
system for dairy products quality monitoring, IEEE Proc. IMTC. 1 (2005) 244–249.
[10] S. Das, M. Sivaramakrishna, K. Biswas, B. Goswami, A low cost instrumentation
system to analyze different types of milk adulteration, ISA Trans. 56 (2015)
268–275.
[11] https://www.amazon.in/Test-Strip-Testing-Chemically-Adultrated/dp/
B01CE46Y04 accessed on 16th Dec 2017.
[12] https://www.amazon.in/Biosyl-Technologies-MTK-001-Adulteration-Testing/dp/
B01EAT9A20 accessed on 16th Dec 2017.
[13] K.S. McCarthy, K. Lopetcharat, M.A. Drake, Milk fat threshold determination and
the effect of milk fat content on consumer preference for fluid milk, J. Dairy Sci. 100
(3) (2017) 1702–1711.
[14] A. Dave, D. Banwari, S. Srivastava, S. Sadistap, Optical sensing system for detecting
water adulteration in milk, Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC),
2016, pp. 634–639.
[15] A. Aernouts, R. Van Beers, R. Watté, T. Huybrechts, J. Lammertyn, W. Saeys, Visible
and near-infrared bulk optical properties of raw milk, J. Dairy Sci. 98 (2015)
6727–6738.
[16] S. Tripathy, A.R. Ghole, K. Deep, S.R.K. Vanjari, S.G. Singh, A comprehensive ap-
proach for milk adulteration detection using inherent bio-physical properties as
‘Universal Markers’: towards a miniaturized adulteration detection platform, Food
Chem. 217 (2017) 756–765.
[17] A.J. Jääskeläinen, K.E. Peiponen, J.A. Räty, On reflectometric measurement of a
refractive index of milk, J. Dairy Sci. 84 (1) (2011) 38–43.
[18] W.R. Calhoun, H. Maeta, S. Roy, L.M. Bali, S. Bali, Sensitive real-time measurement
of the refractive index and attenuation coefficient of milk and milk-cream mixtures,
J. Dairy Sci. 93 (8) (2010) 3497–3504.
[19] S. Banerjee, R.K. Mukherjee, B. Verma, T.K. Jana, M. Khan, S. Chakroborty,
A. Biswas, V. Saxena, R.M. Singh, R.S. Hallen, P. Rajput, S. Tewari, V. Kumar,
A.K. Saxena, J. Ghosh, P.G. John Bhaya, Fiber optic sensing of liquid refractive
index, Sens. Actuators: B 123 (2007) 594–605.
[20] A. Leung, P.M. Shankar, R. Mutharasan, A review of fiber-optic biosensors, Sens.
Actuators: B. Chem. 125 (2) (2007) 688–703.
[21] S. Silva, P. Roriz, O. Frazão, Refractive index measurement of liquids based on
Microstructured optical fibers, Photonics 1 (2014) 516–529.
[22] C.A. Gouveia, J.M. Baptista, P.A. Jorge, Refractometric optical fiber platforms for
label free sensing, IntechOpen 10 (2013) 5772/55376.
[23] A. Leung, K. Rijal, P.M. Shankar, R. Mutharasan, Effects of geometry on transmis-
sion and sensing potential of tapered fiber sensors, Biosens. Bioelectron. 21 (12)
(2006) 2202–2209.
[24] I.M. White, X. Fan, On the performance quantification of resonant refractive index
sensors, Opt. Express 16 (2) (2008) 1020–1028.
[25] A. Gowri, V.V.R. Sai, Development of LSPR based U-bent plastic optical fiber
A. Gowri et al.
sensors, Sens. Actuators: B.Chem. 230 (2016) 536–543.
[26] O.G. Saracoglu, S.E. Hayber, Bent fiber sensor for preservative detection in milk, J.
Sens. 16 (12) (2016) 2094.
[27] B.D. Gupta, H. Dodeja, A.K. Tomar, Fibre-optic evanescent field absorption sensor
based on a U-shaped probe, J. Opt. Quant. Elect. 28 (11) (1996) 1629–1639.
[28] Manual of Methods of Analysis of Foods: Milk and Milk Products. Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government
of India: New Delhi, India, (2016) 1–187. http://old.fssai.gov.in/Portals/0/Pdf/
20
Optical Fiber Technology 47 (2019) 15–20
Draft_Manuals/MILK_AND_MILK_PRODUCTS.pdf.
[29] A.I. Konokhova, A.A. Rodionov, K.V. Gilev, I.M. Mikhaelis, D.I. Strokotov,
A.E. Moskalensky, M.A. Yurkin, A.V. Chernyshev, V.P. Maltsev, Enhanced char-
acterisation of milk fat globules by their size, shape and refractive index with
scanning flow cytometry, Int. Dairy J. 39 (2) (2014) 316–323.
[30] C.L.F. Crofcheck, A. Payne, C.L. Hicks, M.P. Mengüç, S.E. Nokes, Fiber optic sensor
response to low levels of fat in skim milk, J. Food Process Eng. 23 (2) (2000)
163–175.