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Food safety and quality testing
Liquid chromatography solutions for the analysis of food products, ingredients and additives as well as for contamination testing.
Liquid chromatography solutions for the analysis of food products, ingredients and additives as well as for contamination testing.
Analytical methods are essential to ensure product quality, execute regulations and to comply with food standards, specifications and labelling requirements in the food industry.
The most important components that are analysed in the food industry can be divided into three groups:
One of the 10 most dangerous chemicals in the world is aflatoxin B1. For both, humans and animals the consumption of the toxic aflatoxins can lead to serious health damage. They are produced by mold fungi on food and feed products. In this AppNote, a simple, robust and highly sensitive method for the analysis of aflatoxins in food and feed is provided to ensure consumer safety.
Pesticides are agriculturally used in great quantities today. They act in the most of cases as herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, molluscicides and acaricides. Many of them are known to have persistency and toxicological effects in the environment and to be potential endocrine disrupters. As a conclusion they have to be regarded as environmental pollutants and their monitoring in ground and drinking water similarly as in food becomes inevitable.
Residues of antibiotics in foods, especially food of animal origin like milk, eggs or meat, present a potential health risk to the consumer. Due to the potentially carcinogenic and toxic properties of antibiotic residues and their allergic potential, the consumption of contaminated food establishes a direct risk for public health. Therefore, analytical methods have to be established for food safety and quality control.
This gradient HPLC system perfectly meets even sophisticated analysis demands up to the UHPLC range. It offers first class performance and quality „Made in Germany“. This system features a low pressure gradient pump (AZURA® P 6.1L), the new autosampler (AZURA® AS 6.1L), a column thermostat CT 2.1 and a diode array detector (AZURA® DAD 2.1L) with 8 channels in the range of 190–700 nm.
Available at a special promotion price.
Vitamins are not only very wanted ingredients of some food products, they are also used as an additive to design healthier food products for consumers.
Preservatives are added to food products to prevent any alteration or degration caused by the microbial contamination and to protect the health of consumers. The common preservatives that have been widely used in foodstuffs are parabens or esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid.
Sugar substitutes are used in many products, not only for diabetic purposes but to make products more attractive for customers. Quality control of sugar and sugar substitutes in food and beverages needs to be compulsory, to assure the correct composition of ingredients.
The sugar composition of food products can be analyzed using HPLC. There are different types of application tasks. For example, the sugar composition of hones can be analyzed or the lactose content of a lactose free labelled product.
Vitamins are essential micronutrients needed in small qualtities for a proper function of the metabolism. The molecules show different characteristics, so that the analytical methods can be diveded in 2 categories: The analysis of water- and fat-soluble vitamins.
Organic acids occur in a lot of foods and especially in beverages. The analysis of organic acids is interesting, as every product has its unique composition of different organic acids.
Carbohydrates, alcohols, and organic acids are important in the manufacture of many foods, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. This dedicated system is specially designed to separate and analyze these compounds. The heart of this system is the superior AZURA refractive index detector RID 2.1L with an outstanding linear range and sensitivity. More systems components are the column thermostat CT 2.1 and the isocratic AZURA pump P 6.1L for delivery of small flow rates (0.001–10 ml/min) and pressure up to 862 bar. This price attractive system is developed to run simple and rapid methods that enable simultaneous determination of sugars, organic acids and alcohols. Therefore, an interesting application is the analysis of all major wine compounds (see our application note) for quality control.
Drinking water is the main ingredient of all food and clean drinking water is vital for us humans. The contamination of drinking water by a variety of factors increases. Therefore, it is essential to check the quality of drinking water.
Milk and dairy products are incredibly diverse and an indispensable part of our daily lives. Milk contains high-quality protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and thus almost all vital nutrients.
Due to the protein and fat matrix, milk and milk samples require accurate sample preparation. KNAUER offers systems and instruments that can be tailored precisely to the application while offering flexibility.
Oils and fats give the food flavor and serve as a heat carrier or for emulsification. Fat and oil foods are diverse, e.g. Nuts, pasta, sauces and margarine. Especially cooking oil and olive oil require quality control, as they are used in many dishes. These analyzes are one of the competences of KNAUER.
