Wild labs cleared for independent testing

Labs owned by German flavours firm Wild have been certified to perform independent testing, offering its customers in the food and drink industry an easier way to analyse new product concepts.

The certification means the labs, run by Wild Global Analytical Services, are able to analyse basic ingredients as well as semi-finished and finished products in line with international quality standards. That should make life a lot easier for Wild's food and drink industry customers, which can now get independent testing done at what is already the world's largest private producer of natural ingredients for the sector.

Wild staff have already taken advantage by examining beverages, fruit preparations, dairy and soy products, as well as concentrates and flavours, the group said.

Analysis has involved testing products for ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, types of sugar, sweeteners or preservatives.

Storage testing may also be done to monitor the breakdown of ingredients in products over time - for example, to gauge potential benzene formation in a soft drink.

The trend toward functional food and drink products means Wild will also use its labs to analyse functional ingredients such as polyphenolics and athocyanins. New methods had been developed for this, it said.

Research on the polyphenol content of various products, from apple juice to red wine, has captured greater industry interest recently thanks to links between the ingredient and a range health benefits.

"Wild customers can be assured that the company's own laboratory will provide them with absolutely neutral and independent results from complex and time-consuming ingredient analyses, thus sparing them the effort of sample handling with external laboratories," the firm said.