Special Investigations & Foreign Material ID Testing Services

The uniqueness of the Eurofins network of laboratories lies in our ability to solve difficult problems that other labs won’t attempt. We accomplish this with a combination of skilled scientists/chemists and an in-depth knowledge of how to arrive at a solution.  Our many years of experience allow us to offer you the following services:

• Contaminant Identification
• Food Contamination Studies
• Material Identification
• Material Characterization
• Unknown Component(s)
• Volatile and Semi-Volatile Components
• De-Formulation (Reverse Engineering)
• Product Recall Support
• Failure Investigation and Root Cause Analysis
• Product Packaging Failure Investigation
• Product Recall Support and Crisis Management
• Off-Flavor, Off-Odor Analysis
• Extractable and Leachable Substances Testing
• Legal Projects, Litigation Support, Insurance Claim Support, Expert Witness Services
• Consulting Services and Training
• Method Development, Method Optimization, Method Validation, Method Verification, Method Transfer
• Compendial methods (USP/NF, EP, JP, BP, ACS, AOAC)
• GLP Studies and Validations
• Mass Spectrometry Analysis
• Additive Analysis
• Chemical Testing
• Elemental Impurities
• Residue Analysis
• Color Body Analysis
• Impurity Analysis
• Outsource Testing
• Paint Testing
• Problem Solving
• Purity Testing
• Quality Control Testing
• R&D Support
• Raw Material Testing
• Residual Solvent Testing
• Rheology
• RoHS Testing and Certification
• Separation Science
• Specific Gravity Determination
• Specific Heat Determination
• Viscosity Determination
• Density and Physical Property Determination
• Alcohol Content in Beer, Wine, and Spirits
• Titration
• Calorimetry
• Dissolved Oxygen
• BOD

Let's find your solution.

Aroma and flavor are crucial components to the overall customer appeal of a product. Detected off notes can result in customer complaints while the origins of these issues can range from process deviations, packaging failures, production mishaps, or ingredient failures. Our scientists are skilled, adept, and experienced in analytically providing a tailored solution to help understand organoleptic inconsistencies utilizing several novel scientific techniques.

Common off-flavor/off-odor symptoms:

• Vinegar-like smells
• Chemical aroma
• Sulfur-like smells
• Flavor and aroma absorptions artificial
• Plastic off-taste

Common causes for off-flavor/off-odor problems:

• Flavor scalping – loss of quality of a packaged goods due to volatile flavors being absorbed by packaging or the item absorbs undesirable flavors from its packaging.
• Spoilage
• Product formulation interactions
• Introduction of new vendors and ingredients
• Packaging failures/changes including unintended reactions with packaging surfaces, coatings, adhesives
• Production issues/changes
• Warehouse and transportation storage issues including temperature abuse, excursions

Eurofins Network of Laboratories Scientific Approach

The Eurofins network of laboratories works with food, beverage, and ingredient manufacturers to identify the source of off-flavor/off-odor by utilizing the latest scientific advancements. Specifically, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), a powerful technique that is considered the industry flagship approach for the analysis of volatile profiles. Coupled with GC-MS, solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) offers increased sensitivity and selectivity for volatile analysis. The identification of off-odor compounds is done through a comparison of the profile of a control sample to that of a suspect sample. With a spectral library of over 300,000 volatile compounds including NIST and Wiley Flavors & Fragrances library, the ESFA network of laboratories is well-positioned to help provide a solution to your off-flavor or off-odor issue!

Let's find your solution.

Our laboratories lead the industry in foreign material identification, contaminant identification, and solving challenges in the food, beverage, and ingredient sectors.

Analysis

Foreign objects, particles, contaminants, as small as 100 nano-meters, or present at parts per billion concentrations using state of the art technologies including but not limited to, SEM-EDXA, FTIR, NMR, ICP-MS, GC-MS, and LC-MS.

Morphology matches from high-resolution imagery and comparison to an extensive, proprietary database of chemicals, materials, contaminants, and foreign objects. This is combined with the skills, knowledge, and experience of Eurofins SF Analytical Ph.D. scientists and state-of-the-art analytical techniques.

Comparative Analyses

Spectral libraries with over 100,000 FTIR spectra for matches and over 300,000 GC-MS spectra for matches including NIST Library, comprehensive Wiley flavors, and fragrance library. In addition, thousands more spectral, chromatographic, and thermal mechanical scans.

Analytical "fingerprints" and images from thousands of successful investigations and reports performed by Eurofins SF Analytical scientists on challenging investigations. These investigations encompass companies ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 500 global food, beverage, contract manufacturing, pharmaceutical, medical device, aerospace, coatings, polymers, transportation, semiconductor, and high-tech material companies.

Methodology

- Proprietary isolations
- Extractions
- Filtration of suspect material or foreign objects
- Contaminants analysis
- Impurity analysis
- High-resolution optical microscopy with digital imagery

Specialties

- Finished products like supplements, tablets, softgels, capsules, energy drinks, spirits, meat, cheese, juices, dairy, infant formula, squeezable fruit, and vegetable pouches
- Off-flavor, odor, color, appearance, aesthetics, texture, and consistency
- Flavor scalping
- Packaging materials
- Packaging failures
- Raw materials: food ingredients, pharmaceutical ingredients, excipients, and fine chemicals
- Microbiology and genomics as orthogonal techniques
- On-site field investigations and sampling plans
- Insurance claims and litigation support

Contact us today with your Foreign Material ID project.

The ability to provide a wide array of testing services is the hallmark of the Eurofins network of laboratories.  Our laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation to perform some of the most sophisticated analyses while still maintaining the ability to perform time-tested techniques that have been used by Analytical Chemists for decades.  A visit to our lab will reveal the following systems ready to serve your testing needs:  

• Gas Chromatography (GC) with Flame Ionization Detection (FID) and Electron Capture Detection (ECD)
• Gas Chromatography with Mass Selective Detection (GCMSD) including Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) and Headspace analysis capability
• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) including Refractive Index (RI), Ultraviolet, Visible Range (UV-Vis) detectors
• Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) Spectrophotometry
• Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Analysis
• Ion Chromatography
• Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) with Mass Spectrometry Detection (ICPMS)
• ICP with Optical Emission Spectrometry Detection ICP-OES Testing
• Atomic Absorption – Graphite Furnace and Flame Sources
• Flame Atomic Emission Spectrometry
• Karl Fischer Analysis (Volumetric and Coulometric)
• Acid/Base, Redox, Precipitation, and Surfactant Titrations
• Flow Injection Analysis
• Mercury by Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry (CVAFS)
• Refractometry
• Polarized Light Microscopy
• Turbidimetry
• Viscosity

Other equipment available from local partner labs and Eurofins sister labs:

• SEM-EDXA/EDS
• TEM-EDXA/EDS
• LCMS
• DSC
• TGA
• NMR – Proton (H1), Carbon (C13), solid state, solvent, 2D, COSY
• Particle Size Analysis

Let's find your solution.