Analysis of fruits and vegetables
Fruit and vegetables are one of the most important components of our daily diet. With increasingly global supply chains, it is becoming more and more important to trace and ensure the safety and quality of this diverse food. MACHEREY‑NAGEL supports you in the daily analysis of agricultural products - from the field to the retailer to the end consumer. We offer a wide range of solutions for the determination of macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates and proteins) or micronutrients (e.g. vitamins, allergen detection), for authenticity, identification and origin analysis, for the detection of pesticide residues, or for the molecular biological detection of pathogens and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Overview Food AnalysisNucleic Acid extraction from agricultural products
Tracking genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agricultural products such as fruit and vegetables increases consumer confidence in food products and ensures that they comply with national and international regulations. Molecular biological methods such as qPCR, PCR or sequencing can detect even smallest amounts of GMOs. Molecular biological detection methods also play a decisive role in the detection of pathogens or germs (noroviruses, Salmonella spp., Listeria spp., enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, moulds, ...) and in the origin and species analysis. MACHEREY-NAGEL's NucleoSpin Food and NucleoMag DNA Food kits are the ideal solutions for your molecular biological analysis. The specially developed buffer chemistry is optimally suited for manual as well as fully automated high-throughput extraction of highly pure DNA from a wide variety of sample matrices such as rice, maize, soy, wheat or various types of fruit. The extraction kits provide reliable results even from very difficult, heterogeneous or highly processed matrices with low and highly degraded DNA concentrations.
Automation is an important building block to standardize your molecular biology workflows in the laboratory and to obtain better consistency and reliability of your results even when working with heterogeneous, complex food matrices. MACHEREY-NAGEL's NucleoSpin 8/96 Food und NucleoMag DNA Food Extraction Kits are optimized solutions for automated nucleic acid extraction systems from a wide range of sample types.
Benefit from our many years of automation expertise
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Residues of desinfectants
High quality and consumer safety is a fundamental aspect in food production. MACHEREY-NAGEL offers a wide range of test strips to ensure the consistent high quality of products and the safety of equipment and production facilities. The test strips are a simple, fast and safe method to control the rinsing and washing processes of equipment.
Hydrogen peroxides are used to treat various fruits and vegetables to specifically kill viruses (such as noroviruses) and bacteria on the surface. This is often done by cold nebulization of the food. Peracetic acid is also used for comprehensive disinfection of food. With the different test strips QUANTOFIX Peroxide and QUANTOFIX Peracetic Acid for different measuring ranges, quality control can be optimally supplemented.
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Sulfites in food
Sulfites are popular additives in foods and belong to the class of antioxidants. Due to their properties, they preserve food and at the same time act as stabilizers. They are often used in dried fruit or to prevent the typical brownish discoloration of fresh potatoes. H
owever, sulfites can cause severe allergic reactions in foods, making control of the concentration present important for quality analysis. With the QUANTOFIX Sulfite Test Strips you can test foods treated with sulfur-containing preservatives for their safety.
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Avoid peroxidases in vegetables
Peroxidases are enzymes that can change the properties of vegetables after a certain time due to their activity. Thus, taste, appearance and consistency can be negatively affected and even contribute to vitamin degradation. To avoid these negative consequences, frozen vegetables are blanched before freezing. This process destroys the peroxidases and avoids and preserves the fresh properties of the vegetables.
The test paper Peroxtesmo KO allows the quick and easy detection of peroxidase in different types of vegetables and mushrooms and facilitates the control in quality analysis.
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Glucose content in potatoes
The sugar content in food is a key nutritional information that gives the consumer an indication of the amount of glucose consumed. For quality control, the sugar content of fruits and vegetables is also an important criterion for achieving the best possible product level. Furthermore, different glucose concentrations in vegetables lead to different properties and areas of application, as in the case of potatoes, for example. Thus, the areas of application of potato varieties differ depending on their glucose content. Potatoes with low sugar contents, for example, are often used for the production of deep-fried products. This can be explained by the fact that glucose in potato products can cause undesirable discoloration and a bitter aftertaste when deep-fried. With the semi-quantitative test strips for the determination of glucose, you can quickly and easily determine the sugar content in the potato tuber.
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Pesticides in fruit and vegetables
The European Union (EU) sets maximum levels for each pesticide in its EU pesticide database. These are set on the basis of toxicological studies and data which are constantly updated. Since September 2, 2021, new maximum values for various active substances were set in regulation VO (EU) 2021/155. For example the maximum values for carbon tetrachloride, chlorothalonil, methiocarb, propiconazole and other compounds have been changed.
A well-known pesticide is glyphosate or the historically relevant compounds dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, abbreviated DDT, lindane or dieldrin.
The QuEChERS methodology ("Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe") - is able to fulfill the requirements of sample preparation in modern food analysis. QuEChERS became the method of choice in sample preparation for the analysis of pesticides in fruit, vegetables and other food products.
CHROMABOND QuEChERS Mixes I and V for pesticides in spinach
CHROMABOND QuEChERS Mixes I and III for pesticides in apple
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Vitamins
In fruits and vegetables, vitamins are part of the natural components. Examples:
- Vitamin E (or tocopherol) belongs to the fat-soluble vitamins and is contained e.g. in raspberries, savoy cabbage, tomatoes.
- Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is water-soluble and is contained in e.g., strawberries, broccoli, orange, cauliflower, chili, kiwi.
However, the range of dietary supplements (NEM) on the retail market is also very extensive, as many vitamin-containing NEM are consumed by various consumer groups, e.g., to fill nutritional gaps. Toxicological and nutritional aspects are always discussed in connection with the use of vitamins in food. The amount of vitamins in food supplements is subject to labeling requirements under food law. In order to avoid exceeding the safe amounts, a simple and reliable analysis for the determination and quantification of water-soluble vitamins is required.
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Phytochemicals in dried and deep-frozen spices and herbs
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are phytochemicals and they give plants natural protection against herbivores. There are more than 600 known individual PA substances identified in over 350 plant species and suspected in another 6,000 plant species. In particular, the 1,2-unsaturated PAs have a high toxic potential that can damage the liver and cause cancer. Therefore, these harmful compounds are undesirable in food and feed. There have been no legal maximum levels for PAs in food, but opinions, such as from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The BfR found excessive PA levels in dried and frozen spices and herbs. Because of the health risks, exposure to PAs must be minimized.
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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in brussel sprouts, spinach, egg and other foodstuffs
The FDA classified PFAS as food contact substances because of their potential to migrate into food and therefore regulates them as food additives. To protect human health, the exposure of the levels of PFAS along the food chain must be investigated more intensively. Therefore, there is need for more sensitive analytical methods for PFAS in food of animal and plant-based origin. Here we present the analysis of PFAS from food according to FDA Method C-010.02. It shows high recoveries using a modified QuEChERS extraction technique from milk and curd cheese, bread, brussel sprouts, spinach and egg. The extracts are finally analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS on a NUCLEODUR PFAS column.
Please find recommended apllications for PFAS from food in our application database
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