Food manufacturers worldwide now have a trusted and effective routine means to rapidly meet legal requirements on vitamin fortification
Biacore has announced that its food analysis kit for the rapid routine testing of the vitamin food supplement folic acid has now been fully validated and certified as a Performance Tested Method by the AOAC (Association of Analytical Communities) Research Institute.
This internationally recognised certification of Biacore's folic acid kit means that food manufacturers worldwide now have a trusted and effective routine means to rapidly meet legal requirements on vitamin fortification.
As the foremost independent body determining food testing standards worldwide, AOAC Performance Tested Methods status assures the user that a totally independent third-party review has been undertaken and the test kit fully meets all performance claims. The folic acid kit from Biacore routinely measures this important B-vitamin in hours rather than the days that it takes traditional microbiology-based assays (MBA).
This enables manufacturers to closely control vitamin dosage and to minimise wastage.
Used with Biacore Q, a dedicated system for concentration analysis, the ready-to-use kit provides accurate and reliable measurements of folic acid in a variety of foodstuffs, including: cereals, milk powder, pre-mixes, as well as milk and soya-based infant formulas.
Utilising the principal of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor technology, used widely in the pharmaceutical industry, the Biacore folic acid kit is based on the principle of inhibition assay.
In addition to providing faster results, higher productivity and lower costs, this also delivers increased specificity and sensitivity of great benefit for testing in the food industry.
"As a supplier to the food analysis industry, international certification of our technology is of immense importance to us.
It provides potential users of our unique high performance, but cost saving methodology, with the confidence that Biacore analysis offers a really effective rapid testing alternative to the traditional methods largely used in the food industry today," said Esa Stenberg, vice president and head of business unit food at Biacore.
"Biacore is expanding the number of kits it offers to cover analysis of a range of water soluble vitamins and residues of increasing concern in the area of food safety," he added.
"These include tests for biotin, vitamin B12, streptomycin, clenbuterol, and the newly launched ractopamine kit, among others."
