Food manufacturers can explore a fresh avenue to competitive advantage with the launch of a new lipids profiling service, according to Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) who will now analyse fats and oils - both raw materials and in finished products – to produce characteristic triglyceride profiles and provide manufacturers with crucial information.
Using GC, GC-MS, LC and LC-MS techniques, RSSL said that its Lipids Laboratory will build up a detailed profile of the fat or oil’s triglyceride (TAG) components: what fatty acids are present, in what quantities, and their relative positions on the glycerol backbone (regioisomerism). This data, said RSSL, is a powerful tool for product development, troubleshooting, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and claims substantiation.
Perhaps the biggest impact of TAG data for manufacturers, according to RSSL, is that once the triglyceride content is characterised, it can be optimised. Profiling provides a deeper understanding of how different components affect behaviour, so blends can be made better, more stable and more cost-effective to produce, said the company. Use of the data need not be restricted to product development, however, and manufacturers may find that lipid profiling also provides a useful route to demonstrating IP claims, product authenticity or compliance with regulations – ensuring the absence of inter esterified fats when required, for instance.
The investigation of product issues also sees a boost from this new capability, believes RSSL, as detailed comparison between good and problem samples will reveal issues such as non-optimal TAG composition or rearrangement to a different regioisomer.
