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FOOD & DRINK TECHNOLOGY 27


Nitrogen/protein analyser to ensure high sample throughput for lab


Fig. 1. James Arcangeli, Nitrogen/Protein specialist at Gruppo CSA


determination of nitrogen. When determining the quantity of protein in a product, Gruppo CSA must adhere to the AOAC method 992.23 which indicates that the suitable fineness of grind must be determined to achieve precision that gives RDS of ≤2 per cent for 10 successive determinations of nitrogen.


On an ongoing basis the company is required to conduct nitrogen/ protein analysis on alfalfa, a common hay crop primarily used as live stock feed due to its high protein content. A recent initiative established by Te Commission of the European Communities provides a financial incentive for farmers producing dehydrated alfalfa with levels of protein above 15 per cent. As a result, Gruppo CSA receives a particularly high demand for the rapid analysis of nitrogen/protein in high quantities of dehydrated alfalfa.


Environmental research institute required an instrument with the capacity to efficiently and accurately analyse nitrogen/protein in animal feed and in human food samples.


Un institut de recherche environnementale nécessitait un instrument capable d’analyser efficacement et précisément l’azote et les protéines présents dans des échantillons d’aliments destinés à la consommation humaine et animale.


Umweltforschungsinstitut auf der Suche nach einem Instrument, das den Stickstoff-/ Proteingehalt in Tierfutter- und Lebensmittelproben effizient und präzise analysiert.


T


he Research Institute - Gruppo CSA SpA was founded in 1985 by a


group of self-professed ‘young and enthusiastic’ researchers, with the intent of creating an institute that nurtured the innovative development of environmental analyses in a multidisciplinary way. Located in Rimini, Italy, the laboratory processes 70 000 samples and determines over 800 000 parameters every year. Divisions within Gruppo CSA cover a broad range of areas including environmental sampling, physical analyses, industrial hygiene, food hygiene, water analyses, research and development and agriculture. Te institute is accredited according to the standard UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 9001:2008 and UNI CEI EN ISO/ IEC 14001: 2004 for chemical


analysis and environmental services, certifying the quality of both the methods used and the data obtained within the institute laboratories. Working in collaboration with multiple university research institutes and private and public laboratories, CSA offers an innovative and professional service to a diverse customer base.


The challenge Te institute’s food laboratory division performs a broad range of analyses including nutritional evaluation, multi-residual pesticide analysis and the analysis of protein within animal feed and human food samples. Protein is one of the most important nutrients when determining the nutritional quality of a product and is typically calculated through the


Since the company’s inception, the laboratory has utilised the traditional Kjeldahl method for protein analysis. However, this method suffers from a number of challenges. One of the key drawbacks for Gruppo CSA is that the Kjeldahl method is extremely time consuming, requiring over four hours to complete a single analytical cycle while also being limited to a maximum of just 20 samples per cycle. Tis is due to the various time consuming stages involved in the process, including sample digestion in boiling sulfuric acid, neutralisation with sodium hydroxide solution, distillation of the resulting ammonia gas into a trapping solution, titration with an acid solution and determination of nitrogen/protein content by calculation.


Dr Pierpaolo Tentoni, chairman of www.scientistlive.com


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