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analysis
Trace component analysis of
food stuffs using GC/TOF MS
(BenchTOF-dx) and TargetView
Both product safety and quality, typically relating to flavour composition, taints and
contamination, are of concern in the food industry, with many regulations in place to
control these. As such, manufacturers are keen to quickly and simply identify compounds
of interest.
TargetView software has been specifically designed to speed up and improve the
identification of target compounds by comparing defined library spectra with sample
spectra. As an example of its application here, samples of potato chips have been
analyzed to identify selective pyrazine (flavour) compounds.
For this application the flavour compounds (pyrazines) in potato chips (crisps) were
studied. In order to extract the flavour compounds of the potato chips a Markes
International Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor (-CTE) was used with the flavour
compounds collected onto thermal desorption tubes.
TargetView analysis of the data was run against a library of selective pyrazines, in
which a number of pyrazines (2,3 dimethyl pyrazine, 2-ethyl, 5-methyl pyrazine
and 2,6 diethyl pyrazine) were shown present in the sample
TargetView analysis of the data was run against a library of selective pyrazines, in
which a number of pyrazines (2,3 dimethyl pyrazine, 2-ethyl, 5-methyl pyrazine
and 2,6 diethyl pyrazine) were shown present in the sample
Above: Pyrazine target compound identification from potato chips (crisps). Trace level
detection of 2,5-dimethyl pyrazine highlighted
Expanded view (top) showing three (3) very small red bars indicating trace-level detection
of 2,5 dimethyl pyrazine, 2-ethyl, 5-methyl pyrazine and 2,6 diethyl pyrazine. This is also
confirmed with a cross reference against the NIST database
Conclusions
The technique used here has effortlessly generated a list of target pyrazines found in
potato chips. The clear spectral data produced by BenchTOF-dx is ideal for target
compound identification by TargetView.