Quick and Easy Testing for a Finnish Confectionary
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FAZER GROUP Case Study Case Quick and Easy Testing for a Finnish Confectionary In 1993, Fazer acquired the Chymos factory in Lappeenranta which used to manufacture jam, liqueur, and baby food. With 12 production lines and about 300 people, they produce candies over three shifts. At busy times of the year, Easter and Christmas, they may run up to five production shifts. For the Easter holiday, they make special pastel colored candies Image and begin their preparation in December of the previous year. Preparation for the Christmas holidays begins in August when they determine how the package design will be changed for the holiday season. Development for a new candy takes one and a half years primarily because their standard procedures, require that they must periodically check a candy’s freshness up to its intended expiration date. In addition, when various types of candies are packaged together, the moisture balance of each candy is monitored relative to the others in the mix. New products are usually introduced at the beginning of the year, in the spring, or in the autumn. Inside the factory, they maintain a large room containing liquid flavorings and colors. To use, these concentrated liquids are diluted with either alcohol or water. Also on site is a separate room where reference samples are labeled and held. The factory designates a one year “best before” date and assigns that expiration date to each package. Reference samples are retained for 14 months and routinely checked for freshness usually by doing a taste test. Fazer Group, one of the largest Finnish food corporations, was started in 1891 by Karl Fazer, the son of Swiss furriers who decided to become a confectioner. The now famous blue and gold wrapper covering Fazer milk chocolate first appeared in 1922. Today, the company employs 10,000 people in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the UK, and Russia with three factories in Finland. Chocolate is manufactured p Reference samples. in Vantaa, sugar confections in Lappeenranta, and gum and pastilles in Karkkila. FAZER GROUP Case Study Case The laboratory at Fazer in Lappeenranta has had a Thermo Jaana Pajulahti-Kiuru, Laboratory Technician, explained that Scientific™ Gallery™ discrete analyzer for the past year in they use a simple sample preparation technique that consists response to their desire for a quicker analysis method. of diluting one gram of sample in one liter of water. Samples are measured with the analyzer using Thermo Scientific™ “We switched because it is so easy to use and system reagent kits and a dry weight is reported. Maltose is quick.” reported by measuring maltose plus glucose together, then Pia Virtanen subtracting total glucose. Quality Manager, Fazer Group “The Gallery analyzer has reduced our stress The lab receives samples that usually arrive in a batch of 50, level. We can put samples in the analyzer and an average of five samples per week. They test final production products, such as hard candies, licorice, marmalade, and walk away where we used to be tied to a syrups for research purposes and measure glucose, fructose, measurement timing every ten minutes.” sucrose, and maltose. Sometimes they also measure the raw Jaana Pajulahti-Kiuru materials; however quality control is done by the production Laboratory Technician, Fazer Group team. All the tests are completed during normal business hours When the instrument first arrived, training was complete in by the three people in the lab. two days. One day was actually enough to master the routine Prior to obtaining the Gallery instrument, they used HPLC methods; however the second day was needed to focus on or manual techniques to complete their analysis. The HPLC developing the maltose measurement process. instrument used to be switched on all the time because it was problematic to turn it on and off. In addition, sucrose ▼ Result report. and glucose would elute on the same peak and could not be Test Result (mg/L) Dilution Response separated. It would to take up to one week to ensure that the D-Glucose L 42.71 1:1 0.391 results were correct. D-Glucose L 42.66 1:1 0.390 In contrast, the enzymatic tests used with the Gallery analyzer D-Fructose L 2.46 1:1 0.095 provided them with good results. They validated the glucose, D-Fructose L 2.19 1:1 0.093 fructose, and sucrose methods in accordance with a Eurofins Total Glucose 2 227.96 1:5 0.358 protocol and are pleased with their accuracy. Total Glucose 2 227.49 1:5 0.357 Total Glucose L 218.23 1:5 0.359 Total Glucose L 217.78 1:5 0.358 Maltose + Glucose 303.50 1:5 0.227 Maltose + Glucose 305.20 1:5 0.228 Sucrose L 332.72 Maltose 1 87 At the Fazer sugar confections factory in Lappeenranta, many types of hard and soft chewy candies are made. Usually production samples and occasionally raw materials are examined to determine the levels of glucose, sucrose, fructose, and maltose for research purposes. Using the Gallery analyzer to perform the required enzymatic tests has made their analysis processes quick p Jaana Pajulahti-Kiuru, Laboratory Technician. and easy. www.thermoscientific.com/discreteanalysis Thermo Fisher Scientific, ©2015 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. All rights reserved. ISO is a trademark of the International Standards Organization. Vantaa, Finland is All other trademarks are the property of Thermo Fisher Scientific and its subsidiaries. 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