The death of offline analytics

Food safety, yields and quality improvements along with a reduction in productions costs are driving the move to online, real-time analytics. However, this does not mean the death of offline analytics. All of these online processes need to be calibrated and this can only be done using laboratory instrumentation.

There is no doubt that online or at-line testing is a boon for manufacturers who can see in real time when products are moving away from their required specifications. By reacting quickly to these variations, product can be minimised and raw material consumption optimised. There is also no need for holding times while waiting for lab clearance before releasing product.

Fat, protein, pH, moisture and sugar and salt content can all be measured at-line. Microwave resonance analysis can give users real-time moisture measurement of all solid, granular or powder products. The system has applications in coffee, animal feed, bakery, pasta, milk powders etc.

NIR can be used to measure organic compounds such as fats and sugars, while process refractometers can be used to measure concentrations of dissolved compounds. The refractometers are no longer restricted to clear liquids but can also be used for dark and opaque products by looking at the critical angle when the angle of refraction changes to the angle of reflection.

There is lots of new equipment for use within the food labs as well. Bruker’s JuiceScreener for SGF Profiling is an NMR solution that is fully automated. In one run users can achieve absolute quantification of glucose, sucrose, fructose, citric, malic isocitric and quinic acids, ethanol, fumaric acid, lactate, HMF and even process control indicators such as galacturonic acid and phlorin. Using the spectroscopic database, users can even authenticate the country of origin of the juice.

New sensor technologies under development include optical coherence tomography, micro- and nano-CT, MRI, acoustic emission and time and space resolved spectroscopy. The European FP7 project InsideFood is bringing together experts in all these fields and aims at measuring food microstructure and the spatial distribution of food components within foods.

So while the QA lab is moving to the process line, the lab is still at the leading edge of research and development.

By Janette Woodhouse