Food, Beverage & Agriculture

We speak with scientists using analytical techniques to solve some of the art world's mysteries

Working hard to achieve other people's goals - a sentiment that defines the analytical sciences.

This whitepaper reviews the methods available for measuring the key characteristics of polymers focusing on the benefits and value of gel permeation / size exclusion chromatography (GPC/SEC). Much of the paper talks exclusively about polymers, however many of the principles discussed are equally applicable to proteins or protein conjugate materials.

Then & Now, with Stuart Adams, Higher Analytical Chemist at Fera Science Ltd, York, UK

When fighting food fraud, there are problems that analytical science alone cannot solve. We must work together to take a more inclusive and multidisciplinary approach that ensures true food integrity.

The newest addition to the popular ‘10 ways to…’ series of educational papers provides practical guidance on developing high performance suspension products with enhanced consumer appeal. ‘10 ways to...control rheology by changing particle properties’ explores how controlling particle characteristics, such as particle size distribution, concentration and zeta potential, enables formulators to engineer suspension performance. Suspensions are used in the formulation of a wide range of every day products from medicines, drinks and foodstuffs to paints, inks and coatings. This paper is therefore valuable to formulators working across a wide range of industries.

The latest advances in the widely used technique of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) break new ground in terms of accuracy and sensitivity. This article assesses the information provided by multi-detector SEC and the potential benefits of recent innovations for polymeric food additive characterization.

The ideal solvent for a material may not provide a sufficient refractive index difference for light scattering detection. This example of a biodegradable polymer shows how SELS is used to increase dn/dc to give enhanced detection sensitivity

Then & Now, with Katie Banaszewski, Method Development Scientist III at Now Foods, Bloomingdale, Illinois, USA.

H2020 wanted to put food authentication into the hands of the consumer. What impact will the outcome have on our field?