Identifying Foreign Material Contamination in Food and Food Ingredients

Extract

Between the Biological and Materials sciences resides the food industry, where both biological and materials methods and techniques are employed for both production and analysis. Often referred to as “Black Specs,” one of the biggest concerns for the food industry is contamination of the food, or its additives and ingredients, with foreign material (FM). Many of our customers seek assistance in solving their FM issues, which may require multiple instrumentation, several methods, and considerable open communication with the customer before a satisfactory result can be achieved. An additional level of difficulty is often present when we learn that the FM is so small we can barely detect it with the unaided eye. Particularly difficult is what might be referred to as “chemical contamination.” We present here in example (and in the upcoming Microscopy and Microanalysis meeting in Albuquerque this August), several of the methods employed in assisting our customers with FM issues.