The Importance of Laboratory Testing for Food Production | The Science and Law of Food Testing

The scientific credentials of any person working within food assessment need to be underpinned with awareness of the present and emerging regulations. What this means is having a breast of any alterations to food quality requirements. The all too the latest horse meat scandal is actually a reminder of why foods assessment is required with a worldwide food supply chain.

Food assessment labs fall into 2 key disciplines:

Food microbiology testing
Ensuring they come across the needed statutory needs and protect the customer.

Food microbiology testing

Probably the most frequent uses of microbiology in food assessment are:

The shelf life determination enables food producers to confidently established a Sell By Use or Date By Date.

• Water Testing – assessment water is actually good for human consumption within a foods factory or perhaps manufacturing site.

• Legionella Testing – evaluating water for the certain presence of Legionella bacteria, particularly the most pathogenic (disease causing) stress of Legionella germs is actually Legionella pneumophila group.

• Pathogen Determination/Identification – testing and analysing for food pathogens which trigger illness in people either by infections like Salmonella, Campylobacter along with pathogenic Ecoli or maybe in toxications like Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus or perhaps Clostridium botulinum.

Food chemistry testing

Determining the presence of contaminants or additives and it is usually used to guarantee food and drink items meet quality and standards consistent. It is able to also be applied to give accurate data to satisfy regulatory and customer needs, for instance food labeling.

Probably the most frequent uses of food chemicals assessment are:

• Group one Nutritional Testing – The least declaration permitted on food product packaging as well as labeling is actually a “Group 1” declaration, this particular covers:

– Energy (kcal) and kJ

– Protein (g)

– Carbohydrate (g)

– Fat (g)

Information declared ought to be conveyed as g/100ml or g/100g.

– Energy (kcal) and kJ

– Protein (g)

– Carbohydrate (g)

of which:

– Sugars (g)

– Fat (g)

of which:

– Saturates (g)

– Fibre (g)

– Sodium (g)

• Fish and Meat Contents – There are actually limits on the existence of the amount and connective tissue of extra fat associated with meat that is lean. Analysis of collagen and meat content is able to offer you figures for Nitrogen, Carbohydrate, Fat, Moisture, Ash, Protein, Apparent Meat with as well as with no Energy and Fat Values in Kjoules and Kcals.

The much more processed the meat or maybe fish, the much less recognisable it gets from its classic species. It’s at this point that contamination and adulteration is able to happen.

• Elemental Analysis – tests on the 16 minerals that are in food stuffs needed to help human biochemical processes. These 16 elements are actually split into two categories; Quantity Elements Analysis along with Essential Trace Elements Analysis.

Probably the most frequent heavy metal food assessments are:

– Arsenic (As)

– Cadmium (Cd)

– Lead (Pb)

– Mercury (Hg)

– Aluminium (Al)

– Silver (Ag)

– Tin (Sn)

• Vitamins – promises of vitamins in foods are commonplace. The legislation of customer foods, drinks and food products ensures the customer has information that is accurate.

Whether with healthy vitamins or perhaps fortified with vitamins, items are closely monitored and correct vitamin assessment is actually crucial to make sure that declared quantities are actually right, particularly if a business is actually building a claim about a service.

• Water Activity (ERH), ph – h20 as an ingredient in food and food options was probably the earliest type of food preservation.

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