Food and Beverage Analysis

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Beverages, such as sodas and energy drinks, can include a number of polar ingredients, which are easily soluble in the water matrix of the drinks. These ingredients include sweeteners (sugars and sugar substitutes), caffeine, vitamin supplements, amino acids, organic acids, and plant extracts. Because the analytes are already in solution, there is no need for extensive sample preparation. Dilution followed by direct injection into an HPLC is typically suitable.

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Caramel colorings are used as additives in a broad range of food and beverage products, but have no nutritional or preservative function. Recently, the potential hazard to humans of ammonia- and ammonia-sulfite-process caramel colorings was raised, because they contain the by-product 4-methylimidazole, which is a potential carcinogen (1).

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Wine aroma markers

Scientists in Portugal have been investigating important molecular and biochemical changes that occur when grapes are growing to find out how they affect wine aroma.

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Green Foodomics

Is ?green foodomics? another buzz word or a new direction in food analysis? LCGC spoke to Professor Elena Ibañez to find out more.

Scientists in Portugal have been investigating important molecular and biochemical changes that occur when grapes are growing to find out how they affect wine aroma.

The Column spoke to Janie Dubois, Laboratory Programme Manager at the International Food Safety Training Laboratory (IFSTL), about the training programme to boost the standard of food analysis to comply with internationally recognized food safety standards and US regulations.

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Bugs Boost Wine Aroma

A new strain of the enzyme ?-glucosidase isolated from the microbial strain Aureobasidium pullulans (Sp? ?-gl) improves the aroma of wine, according to a team of Brazilian researchers.1 Published in Appl. Biochem Biotechnol., the study indicated that the Sp? ?-gl strain functioned over a wide range of pH levels, had two peaks of optimum temperature and was tolerant to ethanol.

Malvidin, a polyphenol found in red wine, has been presented as a potential candidate for the reduction of heart disease.

The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has added nearly 800 new records, mostly from 2011 and 2012, to its Food Fraud Database, increasing the size of the database by 60%. The original database contained 1,300 records, covering fraud reports issued between 1980 and 2010. The database compiles data taken from publicly available reports in both scholarly journals and general media, with key findings published in the Journal of Food Science.

Food For Thought

Click here to view the complete LCGC Europe E-Newsletter from 4 January 2013.

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Food and beverage analysis is a major concern in analytical chemistry. LCGC invited three experts from industry: Deepali Mohindra from Thermo Scientific, Paul Zavitsanos from Agilent and Norbert Helle, TeLA GmbH, to participate in this forum to discuss the hottest issues in this area of research.