Tag: Quality control

Things are really getting cheesy at BUCHI.

When prodded, I suppose many at BUCHI would agree that some of the cheesiest members of the team belong to the NIR group.

Maybe that’s something to be proud of!

More cheese, please!

Cheese is delicious, after all. With a global market of around $100 Billion USD, I think there is a general agreement on the matter.

There are many ways to consume cheese, of course. Processed cheese products like fondue have their place on the cheese continuum, particular around special events like graduation parties and weddings that seem to dominate our summer calendars.

Manufacturing processed cheese products like fondue is a complex task, with special emphasis on key quality parameters like total solids and fat content.

These products are typically produced by blending one or more shredded natural cheeses with additional ingredients, such as: emulsifying salts, condiments, flavors and other goodies. This mixture is then heated and sheared until a homogeneous molten mass is obtained which can be poured into heart- or graduation-capped shaped molds or other shapes for future devouring.

In order to consistently deliver the same great-tasting product, real-time control of key quality attributes is a must. Monitoring total solids content, fat, salt, pH, homogeneity and more during a blend can allow for real-time process adjustments to meet all of the quality targets and avoid having to rework a batch. The end result: tasty cheese products (read: make money) and improved manufacturing efficiency (read: save money).

While traditional laboratory methods exist for determining the quality parameters, issues with representative sampling and the method collection times are rate-limiting.

Want to learn more? Contact Us and request Short Note #357, or ask to speak with an Applications Specialist to learn more about how you can implement NIR for better process control in cheese manufacturing.

You can also visit our NIR-Online Solutions page to learn more.

If cheese quality is on your mind, but an on-line solution isn’t a good fit, BUCHI also has milk & dairy solutions for our off-line and at-line NIR. You can use our NIR Applications Finder on-line tool to configure the perfect NIR solution for you. Choose your industry and products, then get a full listing of available pre-calibrated applications, plus a quote.

Among our pre-calibrated parameters, you’ll find: dry matter, moisture, fat, protein, lactose, fatty acids, total sugar, ash and more.

Use our new NIR Application Finder to get the latest in Pre-Calibrated Solutions for your industry.

Interested in an application that isn’t listed? Fear not! We have a team of Application Scientists at the ready. Reach them using our Application Support Request Form .

If you’re looking for the full gamut of our published cheese & dairy applications, check out the BUCHI Application Finder. You’ll find methods related to:

  • Extraction
  • Spray Drying
  • Kjeldahl for protein determination
  • Near-infrared spectroscopy

Stay cheesy, my friends!

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!

Chemical Industry QC with NIR

 

Read this post, or watch the webinar instead!

Quality control for many labs involves a heavy dose of wet chemistry methods, things like titration and separation techniques that take skill, time and (even more) chemicals to execute. Luckily, some of these traditional testing methods can be replaced by simple, fast and safe NIR spectroscopy.

While this blog title indicates applicability to the Chemical Industry, “chemical” is one broad umbrella. There are myriad products and processes that fall under the chemicals category, from natural products like wood and pulp to personal care products to standard bulk chemicals. Reaching all of these audiences with one blog post seemed a little daunting until we broke it down to some common key themes for implementation of NIR for the chemical (or any!) industry:

  • Raw material qualification
  • Intermediate/in-process testing
  • Finished product testing

Of course, the typical applications that might fall into any one of these categories will differ based on the products being produced. Some of the more common applications include:

  • Material identification
  • %-Moisture or %-solvent quantification
  • Reaction extent or %-polymerization
  • Hydroxyl and acid number determination

As with many other industries, the raw materials used for production of chemical products are often non-discrete, sourced from various parts of the galaxy, and labeled–sometimes correctly, sometimes not.  If you follow product recalls, you’ll find that millions of dollars have been lost due to mislabeled containers being poured into mixers, placed on trucks for distribution to other producers, or stocked on store shelves.

NIR is one quick tool used for identity testing of routinely received materials. There is potential to differentiate isomers, crystalline forms, chemical analogs, fatty acids, and even contaminated materials. Because identity testing with NIR takes seconds and can be done in the warehouse, more frequent testing can be accomplished without backlogging the QC guys and gals.

On the quantitative side, there is plenty to measure keeping in mind the inherent sensitivity of NIR to particular molecular bonds, including O-H, C-H, N-H and C-O bonds. So, if those bonds are changing in type or in number, NIR could be a great fit. This is the case in the typical chemical application of determining hydroxyl number, where we observe a decrease in NIR signal attributed to O-H bonds as those O-H end groups are consumed during polymerization. In fact, determining hydroxyl number of polyols by NIR is a standard practice per ASTM and ISO.

BUCHI Market Manager and former BUCHI NIR Applications Specialist Ryanne Palermo produced a short webinar on these topics, including a fiery example of tracking nitrogen substitution in nitrocellulose. Tune into the webinar by clicking here.

Find more free, streaming content on our BUCHI Webinar On-Demand page, including information about preparative chromatography, laboratory and industrial evaporation, drying, encapsulation and more.

 

Be a Champion of Final Goods Inspection

Max won’t let a pile of untested final goods (or third wheel) stand between him and a coffee date with his lady love. Check out the newest and last installment of the Food Quality Champion Series animated videos, then download the Guidebook and become a Final Goods Inspection Champion, yourself!

The Final Goods Inspection Guidebook is ripe with information to understand or expedite quality control operations in the food and feed industry. Topics include:

  • Regulations impacting final product quality control
  • Representative sampling & sample preparation
  • Tips for optimizing Kjeldahl workflow for protein determination
  • Tips for optimizing extraction and hydrolysis workflow for fat determination
  • Tips for optimizing NIR methods for proximate determination in food and feed products

Download the guidebook for helpful insights, then start a conversation with your local BUCHI Application Specialists to see how you can be a Champion!

 

 

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!