BOOST
FOOD ANALYSIS
RELIABILITY
mixed and extruded to a stage where a
stable, solid, dense, largely cooked product suitable for easy transport/storage is
produced. Moisture content of pellets
is between 10% to 14%. Prior to sale to
the eventual consumer, the product is expanded by frying, hot
air exposure, microwaving, etc. The raw
material is generally
wheat, but a variety of
cereal grains can also
be processed this way,
including rice, corn,
barley, rye, oat, tapioca, etc. To increase
the quality of their
protein, it is possible
to include legumes
in the pellet formulation. Commonly used
legumes are lentils,
soy, peas, sweet peas,
chickpeas and beans.
A wide variety of
shapes (pillows, tubes, bars, triangles and
stripped products), surface structures,
colors and textures are possible.
an increasing interest in manufactur-
ing practices that has led to improved
performance. A large number of studies
have examined the relationships between
various manufacturing practices and
the impact of such practices on quality
performance. One of
those studies was car-
ried out by the Boston
University Manufac-
turing Futures Group,
which has been gather-
ing data on manufac-
turing strategy practices
in the United States,
Western Europe,
Japan and some other
industrialized countries
since 1981.
Manufacturing
organizations today
can no longer depend
on previously proven
quality practices, such
as world-class manu-
facturing, which in its original form is
no longer applicable in today’s manu-
facturing environment. Although many
researchers have tried to incorporate new
developments in world-class manufac-
turing, there is no consensus on the
modifications proposed. A review of the
literature shows that the majority of the
empirical work is narrowly focused and
tends to establish relationships between a
few key constructs and performance. De-
spite the increasingly global environment
in which many manufacturers compete,
there is some evidence that cultural
differences contribute to fundamentally
different manufacturing strategies. There
is, therefore, a need to clarify the way
each country interprets commonly used
protocols for world-class manufacturing,
especially rapidly developing countries.
In a buyer’s market, purchasers are
value optimizers and select products
that provide the most satisfaction for the
cost. In these cases, buying decisions are
seldom made on price alone. Value may
also include product appearance, taste,
crispiness, color, shelf life, package appearance, effortless opening and temporary re-closure features, effortlessness of
“...snacks should have
several characteristics,
Confidence means avoiding false
positives and negatives in your
analysis without sacrificing scan
speed or sensitivity. Boost the
reliability of your food safety
testing with triggered MRM. Use
an Agilent Triple Quadrupole Mass
Spectrometer to simultaneously
quantify and confirm contaminants
in difficult matrices.
such as being safe
and free of hazardous
chemicals, other toxic
substances and patho-
genic organisms...”
To learn more about LC/MS and
tMRM methods in food safety, visit:
www.agilent.com/chem/tMRM_
food
Snack Foods Around the World
The accelerated globalization of business and increased technological changes
have intensified competition worldwide,
and Latin America is no exception. Big
and small manufacturers face unprecedented levels of pressure, resulting from
competition with foreign products, new
product introductions by competitors,
rapid technological innovation and shorter product life, unanticipated customer
shifts and advances in manufacturing
and information technology. Competitive advantage for many manufacturing
companies now lies in their ability to
effectively implement ongoing product
and process innovation, superior manufacturing, continual improvement of
quality and reliability of existing products
and development of a continual stream
of high-quality new products.
As manufacturers realize the importance of high-quality production in
establishing and maintaining a global
competitive position, there has been
