ISSN:
1618-2650
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Summary The importance of accurate and comparable measurements to the removal of technical barriers to trade and the achievement of the single European Market is well established. The BCR Programme is recognized as having an important role in this area, a fact reflected in a substantial increase in the programme in recent years. There has been a consequential expansion of its activities for food and agricultur measurements which currently involves some 50 projects and will lead to the issue of a further 25 CRMs in the next 12 months. Topics covered include: Nutritional properties — fatty acids, sterols, total fat, protein, carbohydrates, dietary fibre, oil and fat soluble vitamins, and major elements. Undesirable substances — PAHs, PCBs, shellfish toxins, mycotoxins, heterocyclic amines, nitrate, pesticides and toxic element in food and animal feed. Technological properties — bread making quality of flour (farinograph, extensograph, etc.), determination of gluten in wheat, rapid NMR methods and reference materials for the oil content of rapeseed, reference colour tiles for calibration of colorimeters for tomato paste, and characterisation of natural products by isotopic determination (NMR and MS). For agriculture particular emphasis has been placed on methodology and RMs for the analysis of the very wide range of growth promoting compounds in farm animals (organs and fluids). Other projects concern amino-acids in feed and rapid method (XRF) for glucosinolates in rapeseed. Although most of the projects lead to CRMs, the common feature and indeed, the objective of the work, is the establishment of reliable reference values which form the basis for the accuracy and comparability of the results of these measurements. The work of the BCR Programme in this area is reviewed and the steps taken to ensure that the reference values are accurately certified with an acceptably small uncertainty are illustrated with examples taken from current projects.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00322519
