Optimising food and beverage testing with laboratory equipment

In the food and beverage industry, laboratories must balance precision, speed and compliance to meet stringent safety and quality standards.

As the food industry moves towards a more sustainable future, initiatives like the European Green Deal, Food 2030, and the Farm to Fork Strategy are redefining standards for food safety, quality and innovation. They are designed to pave the way for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, emphasising sustainable production, improved nutrition and enhanced food security. While these European initiatives set ambitious goals for sustainability and food system transformation within Europe, similar initiatives in the MEA region such as the Africa Union’s AGENDA 2063, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), National Food Security Strategy 2051 in the UAE, and Saudi Vision 2030 address local challenges related to food security, climate resilience and economic development.

All of the above-mentioned initiatives are aiming to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) defined by the United Nations, among which the food industry has its role in at least 11 goals (No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-Being, Clean Water and Sanitation, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life on Land, and Partnerships for the Goals). To support these ambitious goals within the food and beverage market, accurate and efficient testing throughout the food supply chain is essential.

Laboratories play an indispensable role in this effort, providing reliable analyses for pathogens, nutrient levels and product consistency. By leveraging laboratory equipment, companies not only comply with regulatory requirements, but also enhance quality control, improve workplace safety, streamline operations and boost overall productivity.

The importance of pathogen detection in food safety

One of the fundamental tests in food production is pathogen detection and microbial analysis. Researchers have revealed that nearly 600 million people fall ill, and 420,000 people die, from foodborne illnesses annually. Therefore, accurate pathogen detection is essential to provide reliable findings and prevent any further growth of these numbers. It is very common to perform tests detecting the presence of E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella. An effective pathogen test not only includes the preparation of the sample itself, but also the media dissolution or broth preparation. The consistent agitation provided by laboratory shakers ensure that microorganisms grow uniformly, minimising false negatives and improving lab efficiency, while using hotplate stirrers may also be beneficial during media preparation.

OHAUS’s laboratory protocol for isolating bacteria presents one method of preparing bacteria colonies for tests, during which sample mixing is done on the Extreme Environment Shaker within specific conditions (37°C, 200 rpm). However, the preparation of microbial samples is not only about mixing. It also involves an incubating step, for example in a dry block heater; homogenisation of food samples with a vortex mixer; or concentrating or separating microbial colonies with a centrifuge for further analysis. Furthermore, control of the pH value is very important for pathogen detection, both in the laboratory as well as in the production line. Close monitoring of pH values helps to eliminate the introduction of dangerous microorganisms that can grow in food or beverages. On the production line, microbial control is required to maintain a hygienic environment. During cleaning, strong chemicals (acids or bases) are used to provide the correct level of hygiene. Before production is restarted, pH values must be checked to test for any residual cleaning agents. Thus, pH meters are ideal for assessing whether the cleaning procedure has been completed or not.

Ensuring compliance with pesticide residue testing

Pathogens are not the only harmful components within food samples; pesticide residue testing is also crucial in ensuring that food products meet regulatory standards and are safe for consumption. The 2022 EU report on pesticide residues in food performed by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) indicates that 96.3% of over 110,000 samples analysed were within legal limits, with a slight decrease in the legally allowed maximum levels (maximum residue limit, MRL) from previous years, showing improvement in compliance with regulations. EFSA recommends a focus on specific compounds, which are significant contributors to non-compliance. Laboratories need to detect trace amounts of chemicals in fruits, vegetables, grains and other food products.

Testing laboratory WESSLING dedicates efforts for pesticide testing with the support of OHAUS equipment. Pesticide residue testing requires solvent extraction, sample concentration and precise heating during the preparation step before using analytical methods and techniques like chromatography or mass spectrometry. A well-known pesticide residue test is QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe), a sample preparation and clean-up technique. Protocols for pesticide tests involve laboratory equipment such as shakers (reciprocating or orbital) and vortex mixers or stirrers to thoroughly mix food samples with solvents during the extraction phase. A homogeniser is also frequently used for the first step in sample preparation, grinding for pesticide testing, as well as a centrifuge for sample extraction and clean-up during the process. It is worth noting that moisture content should also be checked using a moisture balance, as it may affect the pesticide extraction step. During the preparation of grain samples for multi-residue pesticide testing in cereals and flours, assessing moisture content is essential.

The OHAUS pesticide analysis laboratory protocol for food/plant samples offers a guide of which laboratory equipment should be chosen for the most effective outcomes.

Food allergen testing: protecting consumers

Food allergy-related diseases are a major worldwide public health concern. In developing countries, food allergies affect the lives of 8% of children and 10% of adults. Therefore, food allergen testing is critical to prevent cross-contamination of food and beverage products and protect consumers with food allergies. Laboratories are challenged to develop efficient analytical methods to ensure detection of hidden allergens which cause severe adverse reactions.

Laboratories perform enzyme- or DNA-based allergen detection assays for allergens such as peanuts, gluten, shellfish, dairy and soy using techniques such as ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay — see the OHAUS sandwich ELISA laboratory protocol) and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or chromatographic-methods. There are at least two crucial aspects of handling these kind of small samples: maintaining the right temperature and efficient mixing (and homogenisation). The first can be assured by incubating food samples in dry block heaters, which provide precise temperature control. Second, quick and efficient homogenisation and mixing of food samples with reagents and buffers can be done with vortex mixers. Dry block heaters, together with hotplate stirrers and centrifuges, can also be used during sample preparation for testing baked goods for milk traces, for example.

Nutritional analysis and quality control

Before a food product reaches the store shelf, it also needs to be verified for nutrient content (fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals) and to ensure the product meets the respective industry standards such as fat content in milk. During the sample preparation step, centrifuges are often utilised as a simple clean-up, high-throughput technique, helping to separate analytes from the sample matrix. This is common in applications such as protein isolation/precipitation for nutritional analysis or fat content analysis in meat or milk samples.

Dry block heaters enable precise temperature control during vitamin assays in fortified beverages and hotplate stirrers assist in fat hydrolysis testing for meat samples. For production of fresh food products like fruits or vegetables and meat or seafood, pH meters play an important role in assessing freshness and the quality of the production. Measuring pH of raw ingredients or final products helps to define if all necessary requirements are being met.

The role of fermentation in food production

The fermentation process is an important one in the food industry for products such as beer or bread. Fermentation relies on the action of specific microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeasts and moulds. Each type of microorganism has an optimal pH range for growth and activity. The first step of this process is to obtain yeast cultures. Incubating shakers can be used to grow starter cultures of yeast under controlled conditions, promoting consistent fermentation characteristics. To obtain a homogenous mixture, effective mixing is required whether distributing yeast cultures for fermentation of sugars to produce wine or beer or fermenting bacteria in dairy products. Effective mixing can be obtained with using efficient shakers or hotplate stirrers.

pH is a critical parameter for wine or beer fermentation or wine aging. For best yeast activity, it is essential to achieve an accurate pH level. When the pH level is too low, it can deactivate good microbial activity; when it is too high, the pH value can contribute to growth of spoilage bacteria. pH meters are essential for any fermentation process. Even in the areas of sustainability and recycling, the fermentation process is also important, where yeast cells can be separated from products with use of a centrifuge and reused in another fermentation cycle.

Food consistency and stability for good quality

Ensuring ingredient consistency and product stability is paramount to maintaining quality and consumer trust. Laboratory equipment such as incubating shakers and hotplate stirrers allow controlled mixing and temperature regulation during formulation and stability testing. Procedures like dissolution of sugars or stabilisers in beverages require sugar content analysis or thermal stability tests for consistent temperature can be performed using hotplate stirrers. Among quality factors is also flavour consistency, which can be achieved by uniform blending of ingredients, such as in seasonings and marinades. When testing products for flavour consistency, mixing can be performed using shakers and vortex mixers. Incubating shakers provide optimal conditions for microbial growth studies and fermentation processes, ensuring consistent results across batches. Hotplate stirrers, on the other hand, enable precise temperature control while mixing solutions, essential for achieving uniformity in product formulations.

Beverage development company MetaBev uses OHAUS hotplate stirrers for precise temperature control to keep flavour integrity. pH is another important factor that influences flavour; by maintaining consistent pH levels, food producers can ensure that the flavour profile remains stable and predictable. For example, in products like pickles, sauces and dairy items, precise pH control is crucial for achieving the intended flavour that consumers expect. Centrifuges are meanwhile invaluable for separating components in mixtures, helping to assess stability and clarity. One common example is removal of sediments from juices and wine to ensure product clarity, while vortex mixers offer rapid and thorough mixing for sample preparation. Ultimately, food quality control stretches beyond R&D and QC laboratories into labelling, packaging and production.

Sustainability within the food industry

As with many other industries, the increased importance for finding sustainable solutions is prevalent in the food industry as well, ranging from food production to food waste management. Solutions such as applications for selling discounted products with shortened shelf lives or imperfect vegetables and fruits (especially in terms of size or shape) can easily be found. In terms of food waste management, companies are recycling bio-wastes into biogas and compost or fertilisers. Within the food industry, one company leading the way is EcoBean, a company from Poland who is reinventing coffee grounds into sustainable chemicals.

Conclusion

In the food and beverage industry, laboratories must balance precision, speed and compliance to meet stringent safety and quality standards. Whether it’s pathogen detection, DNA-based testing, ingredient consistency analysis or nutritional separation, the choice of laboratory equipment directly impacts accuracy and efficiency.

Equipment such as shakers, vortex mixers, dry block heaters, hotplate stirrers, centrifuges, balances, moisture balances and pH meters — all available from OHAUS — enables labs to perform a wide variety of critical applications with confidence. By focusing on advanced equipment for specific applications, laboratories can improve compliance while elevating productivity, precision and overall product quality — key factors in meeting the ambitious goals of initiatives like Food 2030.

Top image credit: iStock.com/AlexRaths