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Rapid quantitative determination of nutritional elements in infant formula milk

2022-06-27 08:19:13   

Application Overview
   Minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium, iodine and other nutrients in infant formula are important for maintaining normal life activities and for the physical and intellectual development of infants and young children, but too much or too little mineral intake can be harmful to the health of infants and young children.

   Infant formula manufacturers need to quickly test the nutritional element content to meet the purpose of production quality control, customs supervision of import and export as well as domestic market supervision, the need for rapid quantitative testing of infant formula nutritional element content. These methods have problems such as complicated sample handling, long testing cycles and loss of elements during pre-treatment, and UV spectrophotometry is also complicated for inorganic elements such as phosphorus and chlorine. Therefore, there is a real need for a method with the ability to rapidly detect nutritional elements in infant formulae.

   The high sensitivity X-ray fluorescence spectrometer PHECDA series uses monochromatic focusing excitation technology to achieve ultra-low detection limits for elements, while using the advanced Fast FP method to enhance the quantitative accuracy of elemental content in milk powder. The method is simple and fast, and can meet the requirements for rapid detection of a wide range of mineral elements in milk powders.



Sample handling


Sample preparation process


Application data
（1）Detection limit
    Mineral detection limit table for PHECDA-PRO milk powder matrices
                                                                                                                                                   Unit: mg/kg

Mineral elements	Potassium	Calcium	Copper	Zinc	Iron	Manganese	Chlorine	Phosphorus	Iodine	Selenium
Detection limit1	5.0	5.0	0.5	0.2	1.0	0.3	10	30	0.3	0.15

 

Description 1:Elemental analysis time 400s, calculated using 3 times the standard deviation (7 times).

   The highly sensitive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer PHECDA-PRO has a low detection limit and is able to meet the requirements for the quantitative determination of trace mineral elements in infant formulae.
 
(2)Accuracy
    Accuracy tests were carried out separately to compare the accuracy of imported infant formulae of three different origins, with the labelled values of each element provided by the formulae sheets purchased.

Table 2 Comparison of the accuracy of the content of each nutrient element in infant formulae of different origins
                                                                                                                                                                             Unit: mg/kg

Powdered milk name	Type of element	Fe	Cu	Zn	Mn	P(%)	Cl(%)	K(%)	Ca(%)	I	Se
Pershing Milk Powder (Australia)	Marked value	74	3.5	50	0.49	0.454	0.64	0.835	0.81	0.98	--
	Test values	73.19	4.57	48.72	0.50	0.50	0.63	0.83	0.81	1.46	--
	Relative deviation	-1.1%	30.5%	-2.6%	1.4%	10.4%	-1.2%	-0.2%	-0.3%	49.0%
Gabrielle's Milk Powder (Netherlands)	Marked value	38	3.31	32	0.32	0.3	0.482	0.592	0.438	0.89	0.14
	Test values	47.62	4.18	37.48	0.40	0.44	0.46	0.48	0.46	1.12	0.06
	Relative deviation	25.3%	26.3%	17.1%	26.4%	46.8%	-3.6%	-19.1%	4.8%	26.0%	-54.8%
Milk of the Year (New Zealand)	Marked value	55	3.65	51	3.2	0.26	0.34	0.54	0.39	0.7	0.183
	Test values	51.70	4.01	48.04	3.47	0.31	0.42	0.47	0.35	0.71	0.12
	Relative deviation	-6.0%	10.0%	-5.8%	8.6%	18.4%	23.0%	-13.8%	-10.6%	1.7%	-36.2%

 
Note: The values indicated are those given in the formula table for milk powder, the test values are those calculated by the Fast FP algorithm.

     The results of the accuracy analysis of the three formulas showed that the deviation in the accuracy of the tests for Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, P, Cl, K and Ca was basically within 20%, while I and Se had a slightly larger deviation due to their very low content (below 1mg/kg).

     The test values are calculated by the Fast FP algorithm and are not calibrated in any way, which would improve the accuracy if a standard sample were available.


(3)Repeatability
Table 3 Repeatability results for Pershing milk powder elements        
                                                                          Unit: mg/kg

	Fe	Cu	Zn	Mn	P(%)	Cl(%)	K(%)	Ca(%)	I
Marked value	74	3.5	50	0.49	0.454	0.64	0.835	0.81	0.98
Sample 1	72.12	4.62	48.68	0.476	0.531	0.638	0.817	0.825	1.58
Sample 2	76.00	4.72	49.68	0.43	0.517	0.618	0.865	0.799	1.35
Sample 3	74.17	4.2	48.41	0.405	0.483	0.621	0.847	0.801	1.41
Sample 4	71.96	4.72	49.13	0.609	0.469	0.650	0.834	0.822	1.62
Sample 5	72.55	4.61	48.51	0.548	0.506	0.630	0.839	0.790	1.55
Sample 6	72.35	4.53	47.89	0.514	0.500	0.636	0.797	0.806	1.25
Average	73.19	4.57	48.72	0.50	0.50	0.63	0.83	0.81	1.46
Relative deviation	-1.1%	30.5%	-2.6%	1.4%	10.4%	-1.2%	-0.2%	-0.3%	49.0%
RSD	2.2%	4.2%	1.3%	15.3%	4.5%	1.9%	2.8%	1.7%	10.0%

 

    Note: The same bottle of milk powder was sampled 6 times, testing time: 400s/each

   The results of the repeatability tests show that PHECDA-PRO has good repeatability and that the mineral content of Pershing milk powder is homogeneous.

Application solutions
   Solutions for rapid nutrient testing of infant formulae: High sensitivity X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with fast fundamental parameter method.

(1)High sensitivity X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (HS XRF^® )


   Monochromatic excitation XRF with hyperbolic bent crystal as the core, which significantly reduces the scattered ray background and improves the elemental fluorescence signal-to-noise ratio, and the elemental detection limit meets the requirements for accurate quantification of each nutritional element of infant formula.










（2）Advanced Fast FP (Fast FP^® )
   The Fast Fundamental Parameter Method allows automatic baseline deduction and background matching, as well as automatic identification and calculation of various interfering spectral lines, which can be corrected for calculation bias with a few standard samples to obtain accurate quantitative values for the elements.
 
    The fitted spectra for each element in the milk powder are shown below for different energy. bands.

Application features
   Quantitative analysis

High-sensitivity X-ray fluorescence spectrometer PHECDA-PRO with very low detection limits for the elements and a fast fundamental parameter method to eliminate matrix and spectral line interferences and obtain more accurate quantitative values.


  Easy sample handling

sample preparation without complex pre-treatment, reducing errors caused by human intervention.

   
  Easy to operate

The instrument's operating procedures are easy to learn and easy to operate by the inspector.


  Mobile portability 

PHECDA-PRO has excellent mobile portability, is not demanding on the testing environment and is highly adaptable to the environment.


   Batch testing

The PHECDA-HE is equipped with a 30-position autosampler to meet the needs of laboratory batch measurements.





Original statement:
This article is the original work of ancoren company except for the quotation. If it is forwarded and quoted, the source must be indicated, otherwise it may involve infringement. For more detailed technical information, please consult the staff of Ancoren.

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