Due to their pleasant taste and nutritional value, nuts are consumed worldwide. They are also considered beneficial to health because they contain unsaturated fatty acids. However, unsaturated fatty acids can break down due to chemical and aging processes and provide a rancid taste. Therefore, the food industry needs a reliable method to identify rotten or rancid nuts within an otherwise perfect batch of a product.
Background
Solution
V&F's AirSense Ion Molecular Reaction Mass Spectrometer (IMR-MS) is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and provides the tool for quality control in the food industry. Rotten or rancid hazelnuts emit certain volatile molecules that can be determined by IMR-MS. By measuring only 3 components in the gas space of a batch of hazelnuts, it is possible to distinguish between perfect and bad hazelnuts. While these components have a basic value in good hazelnuts, their concentrations are doubled or even tripled if there are rancid nuts in a batch.
Advantages
While other technologies such as gas chromatography-based instruments take several minutes to take a measurement, the V&F mass spectrometer can provide results in real-time. Quality control of batches can be instantaneous, and consistent batch composition is guaranteed. V&F technology can help guarantee a high-quality end product and consequently customer satisfaction.
Reference clients (excerpt)
