Safe Baby Food with Reliable Sample Preparation

Is the puree for my baby free from heavy metals? Can my toddler safely eat rice cakes? The Anton Paar product line ASC "reveals" harmful ingredients in baby and toddler food.

Detecting harmful or concerning substances like heavy metals in food is a challenging task, but one that Anton Paar has developed a solution for: the microwave digestion technology of the Analytical & Synthetic Chemistry (ASC) product line. This technology eliminates interfering components so that only the relevant metal ions remain. These are then precisely analyzed to determine their concentration.

The U.S. Baby Food Safety Act
According to the U.S.’ draft Baby Food Safety Act from 2021, harmful heavy metal concentrations in baby and infant food are restricted to challengingly low levels. Precise and accurate measurements, and hence efficient sample preparation, are thus extremely important for food manufacturers. “In the food sector, it is generally the so-called ‘big four’ – lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury – and a few others that should be undetected or present only in small quantities,” explains Klaus Pichler-Jöbstl, Product Competence Management for the ASC product line. These contaminants can be present in food from environmental pollution, fertilizers, the manufacturing process, or natural soil conditions, among other things. In excessive quantities, they can be harmful – and this danger is even greater for babies and infants.

Completely digested
In order to make the contaminants accessible for analysis, the food is treated with a microwave digestion device. The food is placed in a sample container with nitric acid, which is sealed and heated like in a pressure cooker. Microwave radiation causes the sample to reach 180 °C or more and then cool down. What remains is a clear liquid containing the desired ions, while other components are converted into gaseous compounds and escape when the container is opened. The choice of digestion acids depends on the type of sample. In addition to the chemistry, the temperature plays an important role in achieving good digestion quality and the shortest possible digestion time.

From draft legislation to e-book
„Baby Food Safety: Reliable Sample Preparation for Trace Metal Determination“ is the title of the e-book recently published by the ASC product line. The e-book sheds light on the individual aspects of sample preparation for baby and infant foods. The reason for publishing the e-book was the beforementioned Baby Food Safety Act in the U.S. Efficient sample digestion is likely to play an even greater role in the food industry in the future, says Klaus Pichler-Jöbstl: “The trend in the food sector is moving increasingly towards ‘closer to zero,’ which means fewer and fewer contaminants. This makes it all the more important for us to work reliably and keep contamination as low as possible.