Although it is the last procedure that comes in the food manufacturing chain, food product testing is the most essential step as it decides the safety of the food for consumption or use. Food product testing is crucially important to make sure that the food is void of any chemical, physical, and biological peril. Some of the examples of possible dangers that can contaminate food include; bacteria, cleaning agents, pesticides, additives, and even pesticides just to name a few.
Food product testing to find out nutritional content is performed making use of laboratory analysis, software, and online nutrition examination with lab analysis being the most common or preferred method.
What Is Food Testing?
Food product testing refers to the scientific examination of food and its contents, which can be carried using Agilent ICP MS instruments. It is carried out to determine information about different characteristics of food such as the structure, physio-chemical properties, and content of the food. Food product testing can as well be done for several reasons:
To Determine The Quality Of A Product: This test is performed in order to authenticate claims made by the manufacturer of the product on certain issues; for instance, the ingredients used.
For Quality Control: This procedure is carried out before, during, and after manufacturing to examine the quality of the ingredients and the completed product.
Food inspection and grading are carried out frequently to make sure the food manufacturers meet up with the established laws, standards, and values.
Produced foods must come with a standardized nutritional label; therefore food needs to be closely examined to prove the claims made.
Research and development in food science is important for manufacturers to enhance and offer high food quality, ensuring it is healthy, and affordable food; this includes inspecting and checking in detail the products being sold in the market.
How Do You Test Food?
Food product testing can be performed utilizing many methods, all advanced methods using Agilent ICP MS instruments, to give detailed and exact information about the nutritional value and how safe the food is. The most popular technique of food product testing is:
Analytical Chemistry Testing: This method includes chemically dividing and examining the various content of the food product, which includes PH, additives, preservatives, colors, contaminants, and more.
Sensory Testing: This is the most common type of food testing, which includes making use of the human senses – mostly five; sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell.
Nutrition Analysis: The nutrition analysis test includes looking for the nutritional values and components of the food which is always stated on the product label.
Microbiology Testing: This test includes doing an evaluation to check out for any microorganisms that infect food. It is often carried out on the raw materials, ingredients, and even the final product.
How Is Food Nutrient Content Determined?
Nutrition examination is the procedure where food nutrient content is verified and is part of the food product testing process. This process involves the examination of the molecular structure of the food. This is the information used to come up with all the nutritional facts labels which is compulsory for some products.
The nutritional facts label shows off things like; calories, carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, sugar, and fiber. This information is meant to aid consumers’ select healthy foods, and stay away from foods with ingredients they do not eat.