Food and beverage workflow solutions

Significance of the Topic

Food and beverage analysis plays a critical role in ensuring product safety, regulatory compliance, and consumer confidence.
Rapid, accurate, and cost-effective workflows enable detection of contaminants, verification of nutritional content, and confirmation of product authenticity in complex matrices.

Study Objectives and Overview

This whitepaper presents integrated end-to-end workflows guiding scientists from sample receipt through analysis.
The goal is to illustrate optimized protocols for triacylglycerol profiling, vitamins quantification, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis, food contact migration testing, and pesticide residue screening in food matrices.

Methodology and Instrumentation

Each workflow combines targeted sample preparation techniques with advanced chromatographic systems and detectors:

• Triacylglycerol Profiling: Simple dilution; Vanquish Flex UHPLC with Charged Aerosol Detection; Accucore C18 column.
• Vitamins Workflow: Vanquish Duo Dual LC with diode array detection; Accucore Polar Premium columns for simultaneous water- and fat-soluble vitamin separation.
• FAME Analysis: Acid/base derivatization to methyl esters; TRACE 1600 GC-FID; TR-FAME column optimized for cis/trans separations.
• Food Contact Migration: Automated SPME with TriPlus RSH SMART autosampler; TRACE 1600 GC coupled to TSQ 9610 MS/MS; TraceGOLD TG-5SilMS column.
• Pesticide Residues: QuEChERS extraction and cleanup kits; GC-Orbitrap Exploris for high-resolution quantification of 197 compounds; TriPlus RSH autosampler.

Main Results and Discussion

• TAG profiling resolved key triacylglycerols in olive and grapeseed oils, reducing solvent use and consolidating fatty acid and sterol assays into one analysis.
• Dual LC methods achieved baseline separation of nine water-soluble and 11 fat-soluble vitamins in a single run with robust UV detection.
• FAME workflow separated 37 fatty acid methyl esters, including cis/trans isomers across C4–C24, demonstrating high resolution and repeatability.
• SPME-GC-MS/MS method quantified 12 migrants from paperboard packaging fully automatically, meeting EU Framework Regulation requirements.
• Pesticide workflow delivered recoveries within target ranges (0.005–0.01 mg/kg) and <20% RSD for 197 analytes, satisfying SANTE/12682/2019 guidelines.

Benefits and Practical Applications

These workflows offer:

• Increased throughput and reduced cost per sample.
• Lower solvent consumption supporting greener lab practices.
• Modular configurations adaptable to diverse matrices and analytes.
• Regulatory compliance and robust performance metrics.
• Scalable solutions from routine QC to advanced research.

Future Trends and Opportunities

• AI-driven data analysis for real-time insights and method optimization.
• Expansion of high-resolution mass spectrometry for non-targeted screening.
• Development of portable, on-site analytical platforms.
• Advances in green sample preparation with minimal waste.
• Growth of e-commerce portals for streamlined consumable procurement.

Conclusion

The presented workflows demonstrate comprehensive, reproducible, and sustainable approaches to food and beverage analysis.
By integrating optimized sample prep, advanced chromatography, and sensitive detection, laboratories can achieve accurate results, ensure compliance, and improve operational efficiency.

Reference

No external references provided.