Food process and quality control with benchtop XRF, handheld XRF and thermal analysis

Food manufacturers must deliver the same taste and texture experience for every batch of processed food to meet customer expectations. Legislation around ingredients, such as salt and sugar, and checking for contamination means that producers must use a variety of food analysis techniques to ensure stringent quality targets are met. Plus, with an increasing level of food contamination claims, manufacturers need to safeguard their reputations and ensure the food processing equipment composition is documented for dealing with contamination claims swiftly.

Thermal analysis, is the ideal technique for ensuring product consistency in terms of behavior from batch to batch, especially differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It’s also useful when developing new products with temperature dependent characteristics. Benchtop XRF analysis excels at picking up contaminants or specific substances, even at low levels, and handheld XRF is excellent for fast and accurate asset mapping.

Applications for X-ray and thermal analysis within food production

  • Food safety: Benchtop XRF for analysis of food for contaminants and regulated substances, such as salt, and TA to evaluate the amount of oxidation in packaged food

  • Product characteristics: Melting temperature, crystallization temperature, hardness and fluidity, and melting fraction can all be determined by thermal analysis techniques, in particular DSC
  • Asset mapping: Handheld XRF for compositional analysis of food processing equipment to address product recalls due to contamination

  • Coating thickness: Benchtop XRF can be used for the determination of coating thickness on aluminum cans and paper inserts for jar lids

Hitachi High-Tech products for food quality control

Thermal Analysis range for food behavior analysis

Hitachi’s range of thermal analyzers give world-class baseline performance for excellent accuracy even on trace amounts of material. Sensitive enough for new product development, these instruments are robust, durable, and reliable, making them ideal for production environments. With advanced features, it’s easy to determine temperature dependent food behavior, such as melting and crystallization levels, oxidation and denaturation of proteins.

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X-MET8000 for fast and accurate asset mapping

The X-MET8000 range of handheld XRF analyzers delivers powerful X-ray technology and is the instrument to choose for process equipment mapping within your food manufacturing facility. Delivering powerful and non-destructive XRF, the X-MET is the size and weight of an electric drill and will give you a comprehensive compositional reading for all surfaces that come into contact with your product.

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LAB-X5000 benchtop XRF for reliable compositional analysis of food

The powerful LAB-X5000 is ideal for determining levels of substances within food, such as salt and iron, and can analyze solids, liquids, and powders with almost no sample preparation.

Its rugged and compact design ensures it slots easily into a busy production environment, and a sample spinner takes measurements across the sample to check for homogeneity.

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X-Supreme8000 benchtop XRF for high volume production analysis

The X-Supreme8000 is the analyzer to choose if you have a lot of samples to measure in a production setting. The analyzer includes a ten-position autosampler and once up to ten samples are loaded into the instrument, it can be left to automatically test each one. The X-Supreme gives reliable and accurate results for levels of substances in different types of food, including pastes, powders, liquids, and solids.

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Watch Hitachi XRF and thermal analysis instruments in action

All our analyzers are designed to slot in to a production or laboratory setting. Watch these videos to see how easy they are to use.



Learn how XRF and thermal analysis ensures product quality

Webinar: Problem solving using thermal analysis

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Webinar: A beginner’s guide to thermal analysis

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Webinar: What’s happening inside your furnace

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How XRF analyzers help to ensure food safety

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LAB-X for verifying salt content in food

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Chocolate quality control with the NEXTA DSC range

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Brochures and application notes

Find out more about specific applications and instruments for food quality control.

Contact us for expert advice

For more information on the best instrument for the quality control of your food product, get in touch to speak with one of our experts.

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