Food & Beverage Asia February/March 2022

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INGREDIENTS
Chow, added: “Agilent’s current methods
and technologies include MS, an analytic
technique which can be applied to the
identification and quantification of organic
or inorganic constituents in a sample. MS is
often combined with a separation technology
such as gas chromatography (GC) or liquid
chromatography (LC) to form a powerful
system for analysing complex mixture.
“Agilent’s instruments, systems, and supplies
are used throughout the food production
chain, including incoming inspection,
new product development, quality control
and assurance, and packaging.”
Technologies such as mass spectrometry, coupled with gas chromatography or liquid
chromatography, form compelling inspection tools to detect food fraud
substitution, concealment, unapproved
As products are exposed to a cocktail of
enhancement, counterfeit, mislabelling,
chemicals from fertilisers to pesticides, growth
and grey market forgery. To manage food hormones, antibiotics, and food additives;
safety risks, a consistent global framework and migratory compounds from packaging
for testing food authenticity will address the materials, analytical methods are needed
issue of food fraud on the scale needed. to detect its nature and concentration. This
could be complicated due to the complexity
DETERMINING AUTHENTICITY
of matrix compounds in food extracts which
“To ensure food safety and quality for the can interfere with the detection of target
consumers, Agilent is working hand-inhand
with Singapore’s Agency for Science, (MS) is an analytical tool that has been
compounds and elements. Mass spectrometry
Technology and Research (A*STAR) to support adopted to deliver detailed information on the
analytical research & development and the materials used in manufacturing process.
development of QA/QC techniques in the
food safety, quality, and authenticity testing
programmes. We continue to deliver new
technology and scientific workflow solutions
to the food industry, and find innovative ways
to collaborate and discover safe and secured
food solutions because we look for answers
to grow more-with-less,” Chow explained.
The company’s novel two-tier system
offers speed and convenience, with
inexpensive and easy-to-use screening
that delivers a speedy yes/no analysis
of a sample, as shown in Figure 1.
In conclusion, Chow had this to offer: “The
global food supply chain is increasingly
complicated, raising the opportunity for food
fraud. Consumer should stay vigilant to avoid
becoming victims of food fraud, such as buying
from a trusted supplier instead of a flea market,
read the labels, do not buy online unless they
have to, verify premium products to ensure
food authenticity, and report anything if they
suspect that something in their food is off.” FBA
Moreover, Agilent’s analysers used for a
variety of research on safety, security,
taste, aroma, nutrition, and discoveries
of compounds and analytes resulted in
local small to medium enterprises (SMEs)
leveraging their innovation to shorten the
product testing and development process
by six times, from 24 to four hours, and
achieve greater accuracy and precision.
On that front, manufacturers have a great
responsibility to ensure the authenticity of their
products, making sure that they are authentic
and free from interference and contaminants.
Figure 1: Agilent's two-tier testing system is fast and simple to
implement, making it an easy-to-use option for 'yes/no' screenings
FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022