Tag: moisture

Quality is Going to the Dogs.

Don’t worry, it’s a good thing.

This week, BUCHI Product and Application Specialists mingled with pet food suppliers and manufacturers at the Petfood Forum 2019 in Kansas City, MO. Some key topics on deck for event speakers include nutrition, labeling, product development, safety and manufacturing.

BUCHI Laboratory Solutions can help keep the fur kids happy and healthy.

Did you know BUCHI has its paws in the formulation, quality control and labeling aspects of the pet food industry?

Formulation

Our spray dryer and freeze dryer equipment can be used to develop innovative, nutritious and shelf-stable products for happy, healthy pets. These technologies have been used to optimize stability and bioavailability for pet food ingredients, including: natural products, amino acids, proteins, vitamins and oils.

Quality Control

WATT Global Media conducted a survey and identified raw material ingredient quality as the top concern among surveyed Petfood Forum registrants. BUCHI provides expertise and laboratory and process equipment which helps to address quality standards at various stages along the pet food value chain, from raw material intake, to in-process quality control, to finished product testing to validate label claims.

The multi-axis plot shown below is a type of decision tree to determine which is the most appropriate method to select for protein determination, comparing Kjeldahl (red line), Dumas (yellow dashed line) and NIR (blue dashed line). For example, if your current need is for a high-speed analysis with a small environmental footprint, suitable for moderate sample type variation, then NIR is a good choice. If labeling compliance is of chief concern, with potential to adapt methods to broad variation in sample types, then Kjeldahl is a better selection.

Raw material inspection is an important component of a quality control program. Understanding the actual quality and parameters of incoming materials can help avoid process or nutritional deviations that occur because of out-of-spec ingredients. There is also an economical component: formulate closer to target and minimize issues like “protein give-away,” or avoid product recalls due to mislabeled or contaminated ingredients.

Near-infrared spectroscopy is one tool in the analytical toolbox that has been useful for establishing quality in raw ingredients, from grains to raw meats. The speed of analysis is well-suited for a quick quality check against Certificates of Analysis upon receipt of supplied goods.

Typical parameters measured by NIR in meat products include: protein, fat and moisture. For meat applications, color, pH, salt, starch and collagen content may also be implemented. These and other calibrations may be further refined with the addition of samples representative of the ingredient suppliers used within any production scheme.

Click to view a webinar highlighting ways to manage pet food production & quality using NIR

Properties of raw meat ingredients can be monitored at the time of their production, with installation points over a conveyor belt, directly in product pipes or processing equipment including deboners, grinders or mixers. An example of online measurements of protein, moisture and fat content of minced meat at a mixer has been described in a BUCHI short note . These same calibrations can be applied in-line or off-line for the pet food manufacturer who sources meat from a supplier. Large premium meat producers such as Mircana have successfully implemented this equipment to make real-time corrections to processing deviations at the mixer.

Watch this short clip to see how single or multipoint inline NIR sensors can help you control your production process

Labeling

Kjeldahl is the most established reference method for protein determination in feed, and commonly serves as a reference for NIR. You can find applications for protein and fat determination by Kjeldahl and Soxhlet extraction using our BUCHI Application Finder. Some of the content you’ll find includes:

The BUCHI Booth at Petfood Forum is getting packed up later today. If you missed us, Contact Us to schedule a chat with an Application Specialist, or even a virtual demo!

Chocolate. The quality side.

QC of cocoa & chocolate using NIR

Last week the BUCHI Group gathered in the mountains of Pennsylvania for our annual national meeting. Jerry Richardson, our Product Manager for BUCHI Kjeldahl, Dumas and Extraction, decided to lure the sales group in with a session modeled around a topic near and dear to so many – chocolate.

Chocolate

Being a Swiss company, you know we have had our hands in the chocolate industry. In fact, one of the largest Swiss chocolate makers has been using BUCHI NIR in their quality control program for years. (If you aren’t familiar with NIR yet, please start here!)

Quality

Just as is echoed across most of the food industry, cocoa and chocolate manufacturers rely on analytical methods to monitor and control quality parameters such as moisture, fat, protein and sugar content of their incoming, in-process and finished products. These critical quality parameters impact the taste, texture, shelf-life and cost of our beloved confections.

So, we circle back to the obvious question – how would NIR support the quality and profitability of a cocoa or chocolate manufacturer?

It starts with the bean

Cocoa beans of course are the most important ingredient in chocolate, but the imported bean quality will vary depending on the – sometimes dynamic – environmental conditions of the region where they were grown. Quantification of the fat content in the beans and intermediate products can help ensure consistency in final products. Another important quality parameter is moisture content, which can be used to monitor the roasting process.

The reference method for fat is the Weibull-Stoldt method, a traditional acid hydrolysis followed by Soxhlet extraction in ether; the reference method for moisture is Karl Fischer titration. Both methods require sample preparation, chemical reagents, skilled technicians and extended analysis time. In contrast, beans can be placed in a sample cup on the NIR and both fat and moisture can be measured simultaneously in as little as 30 seconds. The non-destructive, rapid NIR method can be used to make decisions regarding cocoa bean processing – for example, whether or not roasting is complete.

While it’s easy to think of the NIR as a magical black-box, these measurements are based on the interaction of light with your sample. The carbon-hydrogen and hydrogen-oxygen functional groups representative of the sample fat and water content, respectively, are readily measured using NIR spectroscopy. Applying a calibration model, we can quickly relate the sample spectra back to its composition (e.g. fat and moisture). Of course, the calibration model is based on samples of known composition, and the primary reference methods (Weibull-Stoldt, Karl Fischer) need to be employed to generate and validate the relationship between spectra and the quality parameter of interest.

Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Powder

The theme of quick, non-destructive measurements doesn’t end with the bean. NIR has also been applied to measure moisture and fat in nibs and cocoa mass, free fatty acids and iodine value in cocoa butter, and moisture and fat in cocoa powder. These measurements can be used to maximize the cocoa butter yield from the cocoa liquor, ensure the standard of identity specifications are met without excess addition of expensive ingredients like cocoa butter, and to determine the fat content on which the products should be sold; these applications could have a significant impact on production efficiency and profitability.

Confectionery products

Calibration models using NIR have also been developed for key confectionery product categories, including: milk and dark chocolate. Parameters include: moisture, fat (including solid fat at room temperature), lactose, sucrose and theobromine.

As it turns out, the session’s brainchild, Jerry, was himself a closet chocolatier. He built his own chocolate lab in his home. I have yet to quality-check his product portfolio, though I’ve heard good reviews. After hearing him talk about chocolate, I can at least vouch for his devotion to his craft.

Additional information

For additional information, take a look at the BUCHI Application Finder to see what we have published in way of chocolate analysis. You’ll find applications using extraction and hydrolysis, speed extraction, Kjeldahl and NIR. Please note that not all applications are published; if you have an application in mind, consult a BUCHI representative to see if we have experience within our local or global network!

 

Feed Manufacturing: Profit with In-line NIR Process Control

The BUCHI Crew is hitting the road this week for the 2017 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, Georgia. Sounds peachy! Find us in Hall C, Booth 205.

IPPE is hailed as the largest annual trade show for the poultry, meat and feed industries. The show focuses on innovation, education, global reach and networking. So, what does BUCHI have to offer these industries? Let’s talk about real-time process monitoring and how it plays into profitability. 

Is moisture content in feed synonymous with profit margin? Talk to a feed producer and you’re likely to see a head nodding in agreement.

How valuable would it be to have a continuous read-out of the moisture content of your feed at points along the process where you can still adjust your process to reach a moisture target? Sounds like money in the bank, and BUCHI near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a proven tool for the job. It’s also possible to monitor other critical feed parameters, like protein and fat, simultaneously.

Check out this short note showing how a BUCHI NIR-Online® process analyzer was used to monitor fat, protein, moisture and crude fiber after the mixing step in a feed operation. Or, read below for a case study at the German RKW mill that produces 75,000K tons of mixed feed annually and uses BUCHI IR-Online® to improve profitability.

The production process

At the RKW Kehl production facility the process begins with a check of raw materials for upcoming orders. The feed is predominately composed of soy and maize cereals, with minerals, vitamins and amino-acid supplementation. Feed composition is obtained by the required moisture, fat, protein, crude fiber and starch of each recipe. Due to the inherent variability of these nutrients in the incoming raw materials, the ratio of raw components needed to fulfill the nutrient profile of each recipe must be recalculated daily.

Mixtures under scrutiny

Raw materials are selected, scaled and mixed according to ordered batch recipes using the process control system. The quality control group determines whether a feed mixture falls below a required protein or fat content, or if moisture needs adjusted to meet specifications. Prior to the installation of the NIR-Online® process analyzers, the answers to these questions came from traditional laboratory analysis with long wait times. Now, the answers are streaming in real-time using the NIR-Online® device at the end of the mixing unit.

Near-infrared (NIR) light emitted from the sensors illuminates product through an installed window resulting in absorption by the sample, which is characteristic of its composition.  These readings are visualized in process charts by personnel in the switch room. If preset parameters are over- or under-run, corrective adjustments can be made immediately. Integration of the NIR-Online® products with the existing process control system provides the opportunity for automatically generated, highly detailed process documentation.

In-line control

“[Because the process can be stopped or adjusted early in production if specifications are not met] the utilization of NIR-Online® has minimized expensive rejects and complaints,” said Mr. Lühr, as he described the financial advantages of the NIR-Online® solution. “This benefit is further increased with the possibility of adjusting moisture content in real time.”

The NIR-Online® process software calculates the difference between the in-line property measurement and the batch set point without stopping production, ensuring moisture addition is precisely controlled for each batch.

“If we are able to converge within 0.5% of the moisture set point of a batch, we can sell more than 375 tons of additional mixed feed per year – a substantial benefit. “The investment in NIR-Online® technology will be paid for in a few months”, Mr. Lühr stated.

Find out more

Use the BUCHI Application Finder to explore additional application notes related to NIR in the feed industry. Or, Contact Us to get details on the broad array of feed materials and properties that can be measured by NIR.

Looking for a different technology? Click here to see results that include applications for all of the BUCHI product solutions for the feed industry, including: Kjeldahl, Dumas, extraction and spray-drying.