News
19-December 2011
– LGC
Standards offers new reference material to support improved
quantification of vitamins in
food
New CRM enables food labs to comply with EU
directive 90/496/EEC
LGC Standards has
introduced a new certified reference material for food testing
laboratories that will enable them to detect and quantify reliably
a number of water and fat soluble vitamins in whole milk powder,
and thereby comply with the European Union (EU) Directive
90/496/EEC legislation on Nutrition Labelling of Foodstuffs.
The Directive (and its successive amendments) includes vitamins
among the list of ingredients required to be included on food
product labels. In order for food manufacturers to comply with this
and other international legislations regarding the identification
and labelling of a product’s contents, the need for accurate
methods for vitamin determination is of utmost importance. To help
food laboratories achieve sufficient levels of identification and
quantification, a new certified reference material is now available
for vitamins A, B1, B2, B12, C and E mass fractions in whole milk
powder (ERM-BD600). Indicative values are attributed for the mass
fractions of niacin and total folate, while additional material
information is provided for vitamins B6 and D3. Milk powder was
chosen for the matrix format because dairy products constitute a
significant portion of food consumption.
Produced by the Institute for Reference Materials and
Measurements, one of the Institutes of the European Commission's
Joint Research Centre in accordance to ISO Guides 34 and 35, the
new reference material is intended for use in method validation
(trueness estimation) and method performance control. Certified and
indicative values for ERM-BD600 are
3.8 ± 0.6 mg/kg for vitamin A
(all-trans-retinol), 4.1 ± 0.8 mg/kg for vitamin A
(all-trans-retinol and 13-cis-retinol), 4.5 ± 0.6
mg/kg for vitamin B1, 16.7 ± 1.4 mg/kg for vitamin B2,
0.32 ± 0.07 mg/kg for vitamin B12,
74 ± 11 mg/kg for vitamin C,
86 ± 15 mg/kg for vitamin E,
8.0 ± 2.8 mg/kg for niacin and
0.55 ± 0.16 mg/kg for total folate.
Values are based on an inter-laboratory characterisation study;
the uncertainty values contain contributions from the
characterisation study and the homogeneity and stability
assessment. In the majority of cases, the values are operationally
defined by the methodology used for the determination.
For further information on this new vitamin in milk powder
reference material, or to place an order please visit the LGC
webshop (www.shop.lgcstandards.com),
contact your local LGC Standards
sales office, or email: askus@lgcstandards.com
-Ends-
Notes to editors