The Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test: the first step in lowering levels of acrylamide in your potato products
- Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test
About acrylamide
If you’re a professional working in the food industry – especially in an area that involves potato products – you’ll have heard of acrylamide. Acrylamide is produced when asparagine and reducing sugars (both naturally occurring in potatoes) react – in other words, when we cook potato products at temperatures above 120º C, such as by baking or frying them. A natural result of cooking, acrylamide has also been found to cause cancer in animals, and many experts suspect it is carcinogenic in humans. Despite acrylamide’s long history in our diet, experts all over the world recommend we take steps to reduce the levels of acrylamide in what we eat.
To accomplish this, manufacturers of potato products have a number of options. The European Food and Drink Federation outlines a number of suggestions which share a common prerequisite: you must determine how much reducing sugars – such as glucose and fructose – your products contain. A lower sugar content means less acrylamide will be produced during cooking. A 2003 study, for instance, suggests that potatoes used for roasting and frying should contain between 0.2 and 1.0g/kg fresh weight of reducing sugar.
A tool you can use
This is where EMD Millipore’s Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test can help. Other laboratory methods like high-performance liquid chromatography or enzymatic testing will provide results, but if you’re working in a decentralized production unit, you may not always find the devices you need. Or it may simply take too much time to bring the samples to the lab. Our rapid Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test, however, is designed to screen potatoes on-the-spot and before they go into production.
Your benefits: mobility, ease of use, and reliability.
Made to move – ideal for on-site use
The EMD Millipore Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test contains everything you need to determine the reducing sugar content in potatoes: RQ flex® reflectometer plus Reflectoquant® test strips. The package also comes with an easy-to-read instructions insert. Results appear on the display of the RQflex® reflectometer; you can also use RQdata® software to transmit them to your computer.
Reliable results
EMD Millipore’s Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test is based on tried-and-tested Reflectoquant® equipment. Every reagent in the test has been subjected to stringent quality control to ensure truly accurate and reproducible results. Additionally, the barcode that comes with each Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test contains all the information you need to correctly evaluate the test in the reflectometer. This includes calibration data on the batch, data regarding parameters (such as the reaction time), and factors for wavelength correction.
If you’re looking for an easier way to determine the reducing sugar content in your potato products, the EMD Millipore Reflectoquant® Total Sugar Test is right for you. Contact us today for more details.
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