Developing new testing methods for food and beverages
You might think that with over 200,000 verified analytical methods in the Eurofins network’s portfolio, there would be little demand for new methods. However, Eurofins companies are constantly innovating to develop new analytical methods to meet clients’ needs.
In this interview, Valeria Merlo, Business Unit Manager of Eurofins Chemical Control (Cuneo), a Eurofins Food and Feed Testing company based in Italy, describes how her team develops new analytical methods for food and beverages from scratch.
Q: How long does it usually take to develop new analytical methods for food and beverages?
“When off-the-menu testing requests arise, we can take new ideas to the drawing board or adapt existing methodology quickly. At Eurofins Chemical Control (Cuneo), when we develop a new testing method for food and beverages from scratch for a customer, the process typically takes just two or three months, from start to finish,” says Valeria proudly.
Q: Could you tell us about a time when your team needed to develop a new analytical method to solve a complex problem?
“A local coffee producer in Italy approached us some time ago,” Valeria describes. “They were wary of potential ethylene oxide contamination in the coffee beans they were using. They contacted many laboratories that could not verify whether this was the case or not, as the laboratories didn’t have access to any analytical methods to identify ethylene oxide in coffee beans.”
“Ethylene oxide is banned in the EU, due to its carcinogenic properties, but it is sometimes used elsewhere as an antimicrobial pesticide to treat food products intended for import. Coffee beans had not previously been an identified victim of this contamination,” Valeria explains.
“The coffee producer needed a method that could return a result in a very short space of time, so the Eurofins Chemical Control (Cuneo) team developed a fast, reliable method that fit the brief.”
Q: Were there other times when your team had to develop analytical methods to identify harmful contaminants in food or beverages?
“Pesticides are one of the most concerning contaminants,” explains Valeria. “Most of our clients use ingredients from farms, so pesticides are usually a big worry. This is the case for tea companies.”
“We developed a method that could test for pesticide residue in tea leaves, which presented a unique analytical challenge, as some aroma molecules in tea are more difficult to distinguish and separate from certain pesticide molecules,” Valeria adds.
Q: What is the most unique analytical method that your team has developed?
“A renowned Italian food company needed a way to specifically test the freshness of the eggs used in their fresh pasta,” Valeria reflects. “It was a niche and unexpected request!”
“We set about researching several methods that could meet the client’s requirements and then selected the most promising avenue: a method that did not rely exclusively on organic acids as the classical marker of non-freshness, but rather on multiple indicators of freshness, such as asparagine, glutamine and uracil,” Valeria describes.
“Our scientific experts successfully developed and carefully validated a method to accurately test the freshness of the eggs, before making it available to the Italian food company.”