Product and Ingredient Analysis

The Food Processing Center offers a wide range of ingredient and product analysis services including both physical and chemical characterizations.

Our Diverse Capabilities Include:

• Total starch analysis
• Starch damage measurement
• Walter solubility (WSI) and water holding capacity (WAI) analysis
• Starch degree of retrogradation analysis
• Viscosity profile analysis (RVA)
• Advanced microscopic imaging and electron microscopy
• Texture profile analysis
• Starch degree of crystallinity analysis by X-ray diffraction
• Enzyme and acid hydrolysis properties of starch
• Analyses on starch thermal properties (degree of gelatinization, light/polarized light microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry)
• Amylose analysis by dual-wavelength iodine binding method
• High-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) of starch polymers (with molecular weight determiniation using pulullan standards)
• Volume/bulk density analysis by laser scanning

Product Analysis and Testing Expertise

• Viscosity Profile Analysis: Our capabilities include using the RVA with a wide-range of heating/cooling profiles for traditional pasting profile analysis as well as starch retrogradation analysis.
• Microscopy: We possess advanced microscopy capabilities including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), which is often useful for the characterization of starch-granule status in complex food or ingredient systems.
• Texture Profile Analysis: Our expertise includes analyzing both ingredient functionality and product quality using texture analyzer.
• Starch Percent Gelatinization Analysis: We provide a wide range of gelatinization analysis techniques including enzymatic assays, microscopy (light microscopy percent birefringence), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray Diffraction (wide-angle XRD).
• Water Absorbtion and Water Solubility Analysis: We conduct water solubility (WSI) and water absorption (holding) capacity (WAI) analyses to determine the ingredient and product characteristics.
• Starch Retrogradation Analysis: Our capabilities include starch retrogradation analysis by various methods, including newly developed RVA procedures.
• We determine Total Starch, Starch Damage and Amylose/Amylopectin ratios using enzymatic or colorimetric assays.
• High Performance Size-Exclusion Chromatography (HPSEC): Our unique HPSEC setup analyzes starch molecular weight and degree of depolymerization during processing of starch and starch-based ingredients or foods. Many of the physical-chemical properties of foods are influenced by the composition as well as the molecular size/weight of amylopectin and amylase polymers. Our advanced starch analytical capabilities provide all the information you need on the impact of starch polymers on product quality.
• Our Advanced Starch Analysis capabilities include acid and enzyme susceptibility, resistant starch, physically and chemically modified starches, and starch-based ingredient and product development.
• Product Volume and Bulk Density Analysis by laser scanning.
• Specialized investigations on ingredient functionality – upon request.

Please contact us for any other type of work not listed here.