Smart formulation in food technology

Harnessing infrared spectroscopy for consistent and predictable apple puree quality

08-Apr-2024 - Apple puree is a major market player, integral to various products, yet its quality varies with the diversity of apple cultivars and processing conditions. For fruit processors, the ever-increasing variability of raw fruits means that their empirical knowhow may not be sufficient to produce ...

Sturgeon products such as caviar sold in Europe are often illegal - or not even genuine

Gene and isotope analyses show that regulations are actively being broken

29-Nov-2023 - Wild caviar from almost all areas of origin has been illegal for decades, as overfishing has brought sturgeon to the brink of extinction. Today, caviar may come almost exclusively from farmed sturgeon and strict regulations are in place to protect sturgeon. However, using genetic and isotopic ...

New authentication method developed for the identification of β-sitosterol in edible oils

What makes this methodology particularly commendable is its ability to effectively bypass some of the traditionally cumbersome stages of analysis

13-Nov-2023 - In a study published in the journal Food Quality and Safety, researchers from Zhejiang University introduced a pioneering methodology designed to scrutinize the levels of β-sitosterol present in edible oils. With a primary focus on Virgin Camellia Oil (VCO) and Virgin Olive Oil (VOO), this novel ...

New fatty acids found in vegetable oils

Characterize vegetable oils comprehensively

25-Sep-2023 - Whether in salad dressings, for sautéing and deep-frying, or in cake batter - vegetable oils are a key ingredient in food preparation. With a sales volume of almost 80 million liters per year and a market share of around 40 percent, rapeseed oil is the most popular vegetable oil in Germany. ...

Genetically harmful compounds detected in vegetable oils

Genotoxins discovered for the first time using a novel method

06-Mar-2023 - Vegetable oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids are highly recommended for a healthy diet. But these oils are not as healthy as thought: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Morlock, holder of the Chair of Life Sciences at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), together with PhD student Daniel Meyer, has for the ...

Detecting food fraud - thanks to light quanta

Check food for content and origin more cost-effectively

08-Dec-2022 - When shopping in the supermarket, consumers must be able to rely on the food label. But is it always correct? In the joint project QSPEC, AMO GmbH, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH), AG Photonische Quantentechnologien of Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH), TOPTICA Photonics AG, AMOtronics UG and ...

Miniaturized Lab-on-a-Chip for real-time Chemical Analysis of Liquids

A fingertip-sized chip replaces bulky laboratory equipment: The possible applications are extremely diverse

01-Sep-2022 - An infrared sensor has been developed at TU Wien (Vienna) that analyses the content of liquids within the fraction of a second. In analytical chemistry, it is often necessary to accurately monitor the concentration change of certain substances in liquids on a time scale of seconds. Especially in ...

Firefly Luminescence Reveals Pesticides

Luciferin synthesis and organophosphate detection by a luminescent enzymatic cascade

16-Mar-2022 - A luminescence reaction modeled on fireflies can detect contamination with organophosphates with high sensitivity, ease, and low cost. At the center of this technology is a new enzymatic method for the synthesis of analogues of luciferin, the substance that makes fireflies glow. As reported by a ...

Measuring ethanol’s deadly twin

18-Sep-2019 - ETH researchers have developed an inexpensive, handheld measuring device that can distinguish between methanol and potable alcohol. It offers a simple, quick method of detecting adulterated or contaminated alcoholic beverages and is able to diagnose methanol poisoning in exhaled breath. Methanol ...

Fingerprint spectroscopy within a millisecond

Quality control in real time for the use in the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry

25-Jun-2019 - To guarantee high quality pharmaceuticals, manufacturers need not only to control the purity and concentration of their own products, but also those of their suppliers. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF have developed a measuring system capable of ...