Grain Adulteration Testing

Cereal grains and their products are the major part of diet for most of the world’s population. Cereals provide human with rich nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, oils, and protein. However, accompanying the continuous increase of market demand for cereals, as well as the diverse applications of cereal products such as production of processed food and beverages, grain adulteration has become a severe problem in many parts of the world. Some grain product manufacturers and/or distributors often replace high-grade grains with low-grade ones for greater profit. In addition, synthetic materials, husks, and sand are often added to increase product bulk. Hence, it is essential to develop reliable methods for grain adulteration testing for quality control, protection of consumers, as well as regulation and optimization of the grain market.

As a worldwide leader in food testing, Lifeasible has directed its main focus toward the development of cereal grains authentication systems. Our accredited laboratories can assist you to perform fast and reliable analyses for multiple types of adulteration in grains, including:

• Adulteration of the high-grade grains with low-grade ones

The price of cereals is chiefly determined by its protein content, starch content, and/or hardness which vary depending on the varieties and/or geographical regions. In the case of rice, Basmati rice is an aromatic variety of rice of high quality which is grown in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. Due to its superior quality and low production yield, Basmati rice is sold at 4 times higher market prices than regular rice. To increase profits, thus, Basmati rice is often adulterated with non-fragrant varieties. In another case, durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is considered to be of superior quality for the manufacture of pasta products, and is approximately 20% more expensive than common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Therefore, a common type of adulteration is to admix durum wheat with common wheat. Another example is oat, which is widely utilized for human consumption due to its high nutritional value and characteristic flavor. Some producers and/or sellers often add wheat flour to oat flour to increase their profits. In addition, it is common for admixture of high-grade wheat flour with cheap grains such as sorghum and corn as well.

• Adulteration with foreign materials

Admixture of husk and sand to grains can greatly lower their quality. Although this type of adulteration may not lead to severe health issues, the addition of dyes such as Sudan dyes for coloring and/or melamine for increasing protein content can pose big risks to human health.

Experts at Lifeasible are devoted to providing clients with a wide range of advanced techniques to detect different kinds of adulteration in grains. Microscopy techniques ranging from light to electron microscopy techniques are commonly employed to differentiate grains varieties and/or dopants basing on morphological variations. We also provide state-of-the-art chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques to analyze the variation of metabolic compounds in different cereal grain varieties and grains from different geographical origins. Chromatographic techniques include high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with different types of separation methods (normal phase, reverse, and ion exchange) and detection methods (absorption in ultraviolet and visible region-UV/Vis, fluorescence, pulsed amperometric detector-PAD, and refractive index-RI), gas chromatography (GC) with a capillary column and flame ionization detector (FID), thermionic detector (TID), or mass spectrometry (MS), and so on. The commonly used spectroscopy techniques involve UV, visible, mid- or near infrared (MIR, NIR), Raman, fluorescence, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Our statisticians will help you perform multivariate statistical analysis along with other analytical techniques. In addition, protein-based immunological assays and DNA-based methods are also available in our laboratories for cereals variation discrimination. Furthermore, the trace element and isotope composition of the grain can reflect the soil and latitude of the area in which it is grown and can be used as markers to distinguish different geographical origins. The trace elemental contents and isotope composition can be quantified by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and stable isotope analysis, respectively.

With excellent teams and cutting-edge equipment, Lifeasible can design and develop customized grain adulteration testing services to meet every customer’s needs. Moreover, you will get high quality one-stop services from sample preparation, testing to data analysis and interpretation. Please feel free to contact us for more information.