FoodLab Touch can perform tests on the main quality parameters for snacks, fats and oils, eggs and milk.
Example of analysis are free fatty acid (FFA) and peroxide value (PV) in butter, margarine and cream, butyric acid, cholesterol and acidity in egg products and lactose, L-Lactic acid and peroxide in dairy products.
CDR said it can be used in laboratories and production lines in the food industry and small cheese factories, dairy farms, egg producers and testing laboratories.
Launch at Snaxpo
The spectrophotometric analyzer uses LEDs instead of tungsten lamps and was launched at Snaxpo in Orlando, Florida.
UK distributor QuadraChem Laboratories (QCL) said it can replace current methods which involve manual titration which can be expensive and uses hazardous chemicals.
The system can test the shelf life of bakery products, snacks and creams by monitoring the oxidation status and rancidity of the oils contained in products.
It can also checks the quality of cooking and frying oil and verify the shelf life of fried snacks.
The analyser is supplied pre-calibrated, test methods require minimal sample preparation or handling and utilise microscopic sample volumes (5-100 µl).
CDR FoodLab Touch is a combined and updated version of the FoodLab and FoodLabFat models with a touchscreen and a more detailed walkthrough of methods.
Colorimetric reaction
CDR said each test is performed by dispensing a determined amount of the sample in the cuvette containing the buffer. Thanks to the reagents a colorimetric reaction is generated.
It is able to determine low acidity values (range 0.01 – 24 expressed in gr. as % of oleic acid) and low amounts of peroxides (range 0.1 - 550 mEqO2/Kg) with a minimum resolution of 0.01, according to the firm.
The system can perform analyses without relying on external laboratories and it is possible to analyze 16 samples at once with the multitasking mode allowing several analytical parameters at the same time.
It allows the system to process one analysis and to start another, with the possibility to go back to the first at any time.