Food - Overview - Applications

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Elemental analysis for the food industry using the Dumas method

You are what you eat!

Yoghurt, cereal, bread, meat - the variety of food is enormous and its composition changes depending on production, origin or processing. Awareness of good quality food and healthy components has grown over the past years, pushing the industry towards faster but at the same time more accurate analysis methods and more parameters.

Quality controls for product safety and standard compliance are regular procedures in the food industry, using different parameters to determine quality and consistency for the customer. Due to the varying nature of the samples tested and flexibility in the analysis procedure it is important to maintain reproducibility. Samples range from liquids to solids such as seeds to paste-like materials like minced meat, requiring adaptable systems and also overlapping parameters that can be compared and used for several types of food.

Carbon as an indicator of consistency

Carbon is the main structural element of all organic compounds: carbohydrates, fats, proteins or organic acids. The amount of total carbon (TC) is therefore a direct indicator of the total organic content in a food sample.

This can be used to set a nutritional value for the end customer, the documentation of batch-to-batch consistency or detect formulation deviations. For example, stable carbon values in flour or starch products indicate consistent carbohydrate composition, which in turn stands for consistent quality. In processed foods, changes in total carbon content may reflect variations in composition, such as moisture loss or formulation differences. In certain applications, carbon analysis can support process monitoring, for example in roasted cereal products, coffee, or baked goods.

Nitrogen is everywhere

Protein contains about 16 % nitrogen in the form of amino acids. The amount of nitrogen is therefore directly in relation to the protein content of a food sample. By measuring nitrogen content and applying established conversion factors (e.g. 6.25 for many foods), the protein content of tested food samples can be determined. In many food markets, protein content must be declared on product labels, as it is a key indicator of nutritional quality and significantly influences the market value of protein-rich foods.

Nitrogen analysis supports the control of incoming unprocessed materials and therefore the qualifications of suppliers. Similar for carbon, nitrogen content is also a parameter for batch-to-batch consistency. For example, protein defines the baking quality of wheat and flour products and dough elasticity in baked goods, making it a critical part of product quality management. Similarly, this is the case in the milk and animal feed industry, where protein content defines product grade, formulation, and pricing.

From nitrogen to protein: Protein (%) = Nitrogen (%) x Factor

Foods					Factor
Milk					6.38
Barley, oats, rye					5.83
Rice					5.95
Wheat flour					5.70
Soybean					5.71
Nut, seeds					5.30

Typical food samples for CN-analysis

Flour and seeds

- Batch-to-batch consistency

- Supporting research for improved seed varieties (such as higher protein content, better nutritional properties)