TOTAL FAT DETERMINATION IN WHOLE COW MILK

Total fat determination in whole milk is essential for the dairy industry. The VELP SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor solution provides reliable and reproducible results, minimizing costs and making analysis up to 5 times faster than the Soxhlet me

In recent years, consumer interest in issues such as the origin of the food has significantly grown. At the same time, legislation has become stricter and sustainability has become the main driver of choice in food purchases.

Hence the need for producers, suppliers, and all players in the chain to increase product analyses to protect both consumer health and the company's image and reputation.

Within the food industry, the milk one has recently seen a significant increase in quality controls, mainly due to the importance of this food for people's health. Milk, consumed in many forms, has always been a part of the human diet, and so a thorough analysis is not only legally necessary but also a duty.

VELP has provided for more than 30 years a comprehensive range of reliable, accurate, and precise solutions dedicated to the safety, quality, and sustainability of food products, now an essential element in the value chain.

VELP solutions, manufactured to follow the most important International and Local Standards, facilitate laboratory analysis activities and support companies in gaining consumer trust, developing sustainable operations, reducing risks, and achieving maximum efficiency at every stage of the chain.

SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor: the VELP solution for whole milk total fat determination

Total fat determination in milk and by-products is of considerable relevance for the dairy industries, to estimate milk quality, define its commercial value, as well as highlight any alterations obtained by removing fat while selling it as whole milk. In whole milk, the quantity of fat contained has not been altered. In skimmed milk, the fat is practically removed.

VELP has used its almost 40 years of experience working closely with its customers, to develop analytical solutions to suit every need.

Today, VELP technologies enable easy and automated routine testings and provide accurate results in fat determination, as well as nitrogen/protein, non-casein nitrogen, whey protein, and lipid oxidation studies.

In this analysis, performed on cow whole milk samples, the results were obtained by integrating the SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor and the HU6 hydrolysis unit.

Preliminary hydrolysis is necessary to get a reliable total fat milk determination, compliant with most industrial methods and standards. A direct solvent extraction would not be enough because a part of the lipids is chemically bound to other sample components.

The preliminary hydrolysis process with 4 N hydrochloric acids enables fat molecules release, before proceeding with filtration and washing. Then, the hydrolyzed sample is ready to be transferred, within the same crucible, to the SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor for the final extraction process.

The results obtained with the analysis, are reliable and reproducible according to the expected values, with a low relative standard deviation. This means that the automatic solvent extractors of the SER 158 series are an accurate and precise solution for fat determination and extractable matter according to the Randall method.

Benefits for your laboratory: reliable performances, accurate results and resource-saving

The complete integration of the SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor and the HU6 hydrolysis unit offers numerous advantages in terms of reliable performance, accurate results, and resource savings.

The fully automated analysis reduces manual steps to a minimum. The hydrolyzed sample is directly transferred into its crucible, to the SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor. This minimizes operator intervention, reduces the margin of error, and saves valuable time for other operations.

SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor works with the unique SolventXpress™ technology, which enables intelligent solvent dispensing, and according to the Randall method, which allows you to:

Dramatically reduce extraction time, generating increased productivity

Recover more than 90% of the solvent

Reduce water consumption during analysis by more than 60%

Thanks to the Randall method, you can minimize costs and make your analysis up to 5 times faster than the cold solvent analysis, according to the Soxhlet method. Soxhlet requires over 2.5 hours of operator time for each analysis; the SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor requires only 2 minutes of operator time to perform a complete analysis which means 2,5 hours in a month of operator time to perform 5 analyses a day (100 in a month).

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Moreover, the SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor comes with the exclusive 7" ControlPadTM, whose simple and intuitive interface makes it easy to set up and interact with the analyzer. Integrated and removable, the ControlPadTM can be connected with your balance and our barcode reader for maximum automation and traceability. Results are immediately calculated and stored on the onboard memory. Three USB ports are available along with an Ethernet connection for data transfer to external devices.

Download the Application Note and learn about SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor

SER 158 Automatic Solvent Extractor enables fully automated analyses, to maximize productivity and save valuable time for other operations.

Thanks to the connection to the innovative VELP Ermes cloud platform, you can monitor and control your analysis anytime, anywhere, and safely.