Transcript
Food & Beverage Analytical solutions in the laboratory
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News
SmartCal Calibrates the Crunch in Your Cereal Moisture content is the key to a crunchy breakfast cereal and Organic Milling uses Halogen Moisture Analyzers from METTLER TOLEDO to achieve the most accurate determination of product moisture content. SmartCal, the reference substance for fast and easy instrument control, provides additional product quality assurance.
Cereal lovers have different preferences towards the taste, ingredients and nutritional benefits of their breakfast cereal, but they unanimously expect it to be crispy and crunchy. Crunchiness and texture are important sensory attributes of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals and these depend strongly on moisture content. Organic Milling is well aware of this. The Californian based cereal manufacturer provides a wide range of cereals for American breakfast tables, mainly for private labels. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Michael Bates, Quality Assurance Manager at Organic Milling, pays particular attention to moisture control. Although experienced technologists can assess moisture content quite precisely by mouth-feel, Halogen Moisture Analyzers
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from METTLER TOLEDO are the method of choice at Organic Milling. The quickest and simplest way to control moisture is with the HB43-S. This instrument is used to verify whether the production process is operating optimally at hourly intervals. The short analyzing time of only 5-10 minutes means that processing conditions can be adapted immediately when the desired moisture level of approximately 1.5% to 3% is not maintained. The reliable way to achieving valid results Moisture determination results don’t only depend on an accurately working weighing cell, but also on a heating device with the ability to achieve the specified drying temperature. The drying process monitors weight loss, which is determined by the
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Moisture Determination
Know-How
Free White Paper on Accurate Moisture Determination selected temperature. Any temperature deviations during this period may produce faulty results. Monthly weighing cell checks, using an external weight, guarantee the accuracy of Organic Milling’s halogen moisture analyzers. Separate heating device testing, with a temperature calibration kit, is only carried out yearly by METTLER TOLEDO service technicians. Between these yearly controls, slight temperature drifts of the heating devices may occur and remain undetected. Michael Bates didn’t like this blind spot in instrument control, but additional calibrations are laborious and expensive. Easy instrument control SmartCal is a reference substance that verifies the performance of Halogen Moisture Analyzers in just 10 minutes. The test is performed as a normal measurement. A reference substance releases a specified amount of moisture during the test according to the selected temperature.
Organic Milling uses a test temperature of 100 °C and the amount of moisture released must be inside the given SmartCal control limits to confirm optimal instrument performance. The highly sensitive reference substance immediately highlights any instrument component malfunction. The handling and interpretation of test results has become so simple, according to Michael Bates. He considers SmartCal to be the perfect partner for instrument calibration. Monthly testing with SmartCal is sufficient to ensure crunchy breakfast cereals all year round.
METTLER TOLEDO has produced a White Paper on the Routine Testing of Moisture Analyzers. It describes the influences and sources of error which may be present when conducting moisture analyses. It discusses the routine tests which are necessary to ensure reliable determination of the moisture content and correct functioning of the instrument. Sign up and request a free copy.
Text: Claas Boerger, Product Manager Moisture Analyzers
SmartCal – the reference substance for testing moisture analyzers www.mt.com/smartcal Find out more about our moisture analyzers. www.mt.com/hxhs } www.mt.com/moisture
Publisher Mettler-Toledo AG Laboratory Division Im Langacher CH-8606 Greifensee, Switzerland Production LAB Division Marketing Global MarCom Switzerland www.mt.com/lab-segmentnews Subject to technical changes. © Mettler-Toledo AG 08/13 Printed in Switzerland.
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Comprehensive Service Program Leads the Way to Accurate Weighing Results An American cookie and snacks company needed an all-round service package to ensure that their weighing equipment meets stringent food industry regulations. They have now invested in a long-term service agreement with METTLER TOLEDO that ensures their weighing results remain completely reliable.
Although the company already had a service contract in place, the supplier only provided ‘calibration only’ services. These services did not include any cleaning, adjustment or other preventive maintenance activities. An on-site visit by METTLER TOLEDO helped the client to realize how the quality of weighing results could be improved through a comprehensive balance maintenance program and a testing-weight calibration schedule. The Quality Supervisor was very specific in his future service requirements, “The food industry is highly regulated and we expect a service supplier to offer us an all-inclusive solution focused on our industry. We also expect that verification protocols should be bullet-proof and all our weighing equipment should be taken care of, from laboratory balances to industrial scales.” Consultation process METTLER TOLEDO’s Good Weighing Practice™ presentation to the Quality and Operations Management group helped the company to understand the life cycle of weighing equipment and the necessity for instrument after-sales service and performance verification. Several meetings with the company identified their immediate needs and categorized them according to importance.
Firstly, an asset inventory was created at the company’s production site in order to assign ownership to each individual weighing device. METTLER TOLEDO’s GWP® Verification Consultation Service analyzed installed weighing equipment according to company defined processtolerances in order to create an optimized testing and calibration scheme. Fail-safe audit documentation specified the recommended balance tests, the testing frequencies and which test weights should be used. Protocols were established to prevent users from working with devices that were out of specification and services were defined for every instrument, companywide, according to the critical nature of the weighing process.
• Fully maintained and recalibrated test weights (recalled automatically and punctually by METTLER TOLEDO). This new and optimized testing and services regime provides the company with a reassuring, cost-effective solution guaranteeing that balance tests are always performed correctly, on time and with valid tests weights – all backed up with the necessary documentation.
Text: Hansjörg Burkhard, Head of Service, Weights and Calibration Laboratory
www.mt.com/service
Long-term benefits Calibration services were performed on over 200 balances and scales to im mediately ensure requirement-specific balance performance. A longer-term ‘Services Roadmap’ was also developed in order to guarantee continued accurate and reliable weighing results. The company benefits further from: • Professionally cleaned and maintained balances. • 100% bulletproof documentation. • Internal balance testing in accordance with SOPs supplied by METTLER TOLEDO. METTLER TOLEDO
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Argentometric Chloride Titration
Double Throughput for Snack Production Thanks to Clever Automation Chloride determination is typically carried out in order to determine the correct seasoning dosage for snack foods. The PepsiCo Frito-Lay’s Snack Food production site in Belgium decided that they needed a new approach and decided upon automated titration to increase their sample throughput for this quality control step. Throughput was then doubled thanks to the parallelization of two bottleneck processes.
The proper seasoning dosage for snack foods is a key parameter to ensuring consistent quality, taste and cost effectiveness. Dosing a solid powder mixture onto a natural product with an altering form and shape, such as fried snacks, is a challenge, especially if the distribution on the snack’s surface must be homogeneous throughout the production process. Therefore, the quality control
of spice content is mandatory for product release. All the different seasonings contain an exact sodium chloride content. The final product spice content can then be determined by simply measuring the chloride concentration with argentometric titration.
Dissolution – the time consuming step For this method, all chloride ions have to be dissolved in water. If this is not done properly, the results will show poor repeatability. The snacks have to be crushed with a blender for homogenization. Nitric acid is added to the mixture of starch, fat, proteins and spices in order to completely dissolve the chloride ions in the aqueous phase. This is then stirred at 60 °C for 3 minutes. The mixture is then ready for titration with silver nitrate, which takes, roughly, another 3 minutes. In the old setup, water was heated up with nitric acid, using an external heating plate, prior to adding it to the sample. The total analysis time per determination was 6 minutes. The increasing demand for more measurements necessitated the faster determination of each sample. Parallelize tasks with two towers The new setup uses a double tower configuration on the Rondo20 sample changer. Tower A is equipped with a DH100 heating device with a sampling head connected to tubes that introduce the appropriate amount of water and nitric acid necessary to dilute the sample. The heating
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device rapidly heats the solution up to 60 °C and maintains the temperature for a 3 minute stirring time. The titration is then simultaneously performed in the sample position under tower B. The next sample is dissolved and heated under tower A and the process is repeated. While the first sample in a sequence still requires 6 minutes for the entire process, all following samples take just 3 minutes to almost double sample throughput. The operator starts the process after the two first samples are placed on the sample changer to achieve the most efficient and continuous workflow. Adding more samples while the method is running saves even more time. The final results are transferred via LabX® Software to a LIMS system for archiving and further processing requirements. This configuration gives PepsiCo a sample throughput of approximately 18 samples per hour. With the One-Click® user interface, all staff at the production site are able to operate this challenging setup easily after only a short training period. Text: Christoph Jansen, Market Manager Global Accounts Luc Okens, Sales Engineer, Belgium.
T90 Excellence Titrator and Rondo20 sample changer with a double tower configuration.
Automatic Argentometric Chloride Determination Argentometric chloride titration is based on the precipitation of AgCl during the addition of AgNO3 titrant with an automatic burette. While adding AgNO3, the potential in the solution is measured with a DMi141-SC silver ring electrode. When all chloride ions are precipitated, Ag+ ions added in excess remain dissolved and a distinct potential jump that indicates the equivalence point (EQP) is recorded. The integrated computer in the T90 Excellence Titrator converts this EQP into a Cl- concentration value.
www.mt.com//titration METTLER TOLEDO
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Sample Weighing
Measuring Ice Cream Meltdown Efficiently and Error-free Determining the speed at which ice cream melts is an important factor in product quality. However, the quantitative measurement of the meltdown curve is labor-intensive and error-prone. LabX Software offers one ice cream manufacturer an easy, automatic and error-free solution. The XS2002S offers the ideal capacity and readability for determining the meltdown rate of ice cream.
LabX automatically records all results against each unique ID.
Instructions are provided at each step of the process.
The final overall result is displayed and a report, including the meltdown curve, is generated automatically.
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LabX Balance Software
Difficulties faced The traditional method for determining the meltdown curve for ice cream involves the physical observation of it melting. A block of ice cream is placed on a net positioned above a balance at room temperature. The ice cream is collected in a glass tare container on the balance as it melts. The weight on the balance is registered every minute for three hours. The results collected are used to generate a meltdown curve as a percentage of the ice cream melted over time. The Asian base of a global food company was searching for a complete automation solution for the process. This is a labor and time intensive procedure for the technician carrying out the analysis. The ice cream block must be carefully observed so that the precise time of the first melted drop can be recorded. However, this waiting period can be quite long. The subsequent weighing intervals must be carefully timed and the operator must record all the weight results manually. Transferring the results
Sweet benefits This automated process, in partnership with LabX, simplifies the entire process for technicians and saves a considerable amount of time and money. There is no longer any need to manually record results, completely eliminating transcripLabX solution tion errors. The technicians are also reMETTLER TOLEDO’s LabX Laboratory leased to perform other tasks during the software is installed on the PC in the analysis, further increasing lab output quality control laboratory. The balances and efficiency. Several analyses can now in the lab are connected to the PC via be performed simultaneously without the the local network. In consultation with previous risks or errors associated with LabX Application Specialists, the cus- interval-timing, recording of results or tomer’s application was implemented in even missing the first drop. This meltLabX. Lab technicians can then simply down application is designed specifically start the meltdown application with a according to this customer’s needs giving shortcut button on the balance touch- quality control managers the reassurscreen – there’s no need to stand at the ance that standard testing procedures PC. LabX automatically records the time are being appropriately adhered to and taken until the first drop is detected and recorded. the weight value every minute for the Text: Isabelle Schrepfer, Product Manager required length of time. These results are stored in a secure database against www.mt.com/labx a unique ID for each ice cream sample. LabX generates the meltdown curve automatically and prints it out in a report at the end of the process. to a spreadsheet to generate the meltdown curve is also prone to transcription error. These difficulties are multiplied when attempting to determine the meltdown curves for several samples of ice cream simultaneously.
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LabX Laboratory Software 8
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LabX Software Power the Bench LabX software brings power to your laboratory bench by providing full user guidance on the instrument touchscreen, handling all data automatically, and ensuring a high level of process security. LabX is installed on a PC inside or outside your laboratory and can be connected to a variety of instruments, such as density meters, refractometers, melting point instruments, and Excellence Balances. LabX allows you to centrally manage your application methods, instruments, products and user rights. Individual process applications are implemented in LabX
and provide full SOP workflow coverage directly on the instrument. With a variety of licensing options, LabX adapts to your needs. LabX Services support you and your LabX system and are completely flexible to meet individual system and user needs, including full integration with your existing information systems.
In the Office All data and process information is centrally managed in LabX. At any time, LabX can provide a complete overview of the activities in the lab. Manage your SOPs, users and instruments, and even view results as they are generated.
In the Lab Operators work at their instruments as usual. Tasks are started directly on the instrument touchscreen. All data and calculations are taken care of by LabX. The operator just has to perform the task. Reports can be generated automatically and sent to a printer inside the lab or in the office.
On the Instrument LabX provides full step-by-step SOP user guidance directly on the instrument touchscreen. All data is handled automatically so manual transcription of results is no longer necessary. Results and instrument data are available directly on the touchscreen.
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Precision Balance Analytical Balance Quantos Dosing System Refractometer Melting Point Instrument Titrator Density Meter On the PC Use the design tools to create application methods and reports in accordance with your SOPs. Instrument tasks can be generated from the PC, ELN, LIMS or ERP. Secure results and electronic signatures assist in compliance with regulations, including 21 CFR Part 11. To order our LabX brochure or for more information:
www.mt.com/LabX METTLER TOLEDO
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Product Highlight
Increased Productivity For Quality Food Production When moisture content determines productivity, the HS153 is the instru ment of choice. With a capacity of 150 g and 1 mg resolution, the HS153 provides accurate results required for producing high quality food products. The hanging weighing pan enables 360° free access, flat surfaces for easy cleaning and outstanding robustness for a long service life. Real-time drying curves and control charts display performance and boost productivity in the lab and the factory.
Productive The drying curve is visualized in realtime on the display. The integrated control charts show how the moisture content of the samples trend over time for optimal process control and increased productivity
Robust 360° free access to the weighing chamber facilitates sample handling. The flat surfaces are easy-to-clean. The weighing sensor is completely sealed. Spilled samples can not obstruct the balance.
Compact The small footprint of the HS153 requires minimal bench space. When using the optional stand, the instrument is narrower than an A4 size sheet of paper.
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Density and Refractive Indexes in One Single Run Liquids can be characterized in various ways and the determination of their physical and chemical properties are routine yet essential requirements. Whether the sugar content of soft drinks, incoming raw material analysis of food ingredients or alcohol content in finished produce, the newly introduced LiquiPhysics Excellence proves an ideal tool for analysts in the food and beverage industry.
DX density cell module
Modular solutions Upgrading a RM refractometer with a DX density cell module is a cost- and space-saving solution allowing the determination of both density and refractive index.
RM Refractometer
Rugged Protect your instrument from spoilage and contamination with ErgoSens. A simple hand movement across the sensor starts the measurement without even touching the instrument.
Automation Unit
Efficient and safe The SC1 automation unit’s cleaning solvents are automatically pumped through the system. This protects operators from direct contact with toxic solvents or vapors.
www.mt.com/LiquiPhysics METTLER TOLEDO
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Info Spot
Ultimate Food Guides for High Quality Food Production To assist those working within the food and beverage industry, METTLER TOLEDO has created three guides with extensive information on commonly used methods, selected applications as well as tips and tricks to improve measurement accuracy and food quality. Our offering includes: • The Sugar Guide • The Formulation Guide • The Acidity Guide These guides are comprehensive sources of information for those working with sugar, creating new food mixtures or determining the acidity content in food products.
Visit our webpages and download our guides for free: Sugar guide: } www.mt.com/sn-sugar-lab Formulation guide: } www.mt.com/sn-formulation-lab Acidity guide: } www.mt.com/sn-acidity-lab
Mettler-Toledo AG Laboratory Division Im Langacher CH-8606 Greifensee, Switzerland
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www.mt.com/lab-foodandbeverage For more information
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