Food and Beverage Testing

The most common testing using ISEs is the measurement of pH or salt in food and beverages. More recently Sodium content is required for publication on food labels along with many other parameters such as Potassium in Wine or Calcium in Beer or the pH of Cheese.

Foods and Beverages Tests

All of our processed food undergoes some  electrochemical measurement be it Cheese, Wine, processed meat, butter, cereals and sauces. The most common is pH where we find a wide diversity of pH values.

Soft drinks for example may have a pH of less than pH 3 whilst bottled water would be pH 7. The pH of meat for example would normally be mildly acidic or neutral with some spices or savoury condiments may have a pH of 2. Food is digested in the stomach by bile acid which would normally have a pH of 1 whereas our skin has an acid mantle at pH 5.5.

All of our processed food undergoes some  electrochemical measurement be it Cheese, Wine, Processed Meat, Butter, Cereals and Sauces. The most common is pH where we find a wide diversity of pH values.

Food producers are very keen to control the salt content of food. Preservation and taste are important but so is the need to reduce the sodium content which in excess can cause hypertension. In either case the manufactures will have to measure and report many electrochemical parameters on the labels of processed foods as part of their responsibilities to consumers and legislators.

The meat industry need to measure Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonium to provide consistent quality and freshness whilst  wine producers will want to control and check the Potassium levels to minimise sedimentation and optimise taste.  The legislative requirement to report levels of these parameters is growing and so is the use of pH, Conductivity and ISE techniques to meet these challenges.

EDT directION have prepared a selection of common methods used in the Food industry and these are available for immediate download.  The methods include a section on sample preparation and contain practical hints and tips to enable the user to achieve a good result with the minimum of fuss.

Take a look at our methods in the Food and Beverage Support Area.  For further advice email us at info@edt.co.uk.