New department is fully functional

Reading Scientific Services (RSSL) has reorganised several of its analytical services to create a specialist department dealing with functional ingredients

Headed by Melindee Hastie, the new department will help food and drink companies better to exploit functional ingredients in every-day foods.

Over the years, RSSL has invested heavily in its laboratories and analytical equipment, and uniquely amongst food laboratories installed the specialist storage cabinets that are used for holding samples during stability studies.

With so many functional ingredients being vulnerable to degradation during processing and storage, stability studies are essential to assist manufacturers in setting the shelf-life of products and making accurate labelling claims.

The functional ingredients laboratory is also equipped to analyse premium ingredients to assess their authenticity, using tests for a wide range of chemical markers to detect adulteration and substitution.

It can also test products for the addition of sweeteners, colours and preservatives (whether used legally or otherwise) as well as illegal chemical contaminants, such as Sudan Red I-IV.

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