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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, NEUCHATEL - QUARTERLY REPORT DIVISION RESEARCH SUBJECT TITLE . NEAR INFRARED REFLECTANCE ANALYSES (NIRA) PERIOD COVERED : JULY - SEPTEMBER'1988 WRITTEN BY . Moser-F. (FMO) KEYWORDS . infraAlyzer, nira, flavor OBJECTIVE To evaluate Near Infrared Reflectance Analyses (NIRA) as an anlytical approach towards routine quality and/or process control measurements. STATUS An infraAlyzer method for the determination of main components in flavors MF-AC-B'ase and MFSB-1 liquid is being developed. Calibrations for ethanol, water, fructose and glucose in~MF-AC flavor, and ethanol, water and propylene glycol in I-IFSB flavor were established. For each type of flavor, specific calibrations have to be made, e.g. the calibration for ethanol in MF-AC cannot be used to determine ethanol in MFSB. Whether the total composi- tion of a flavor and not only the main components or in the case of P?FSB.propylene glycol is the reason for this effect is not yet known. To check the reproducibility of the infraAlyzer measurement with the liquid cell the 4 components in a MF-AC sample were determined twelve times. The resulting CV-values (%) are : Ethanol 1.27, water 0.38', fructose 1i.13 and glucose 0.97. In order to check the validity of the calibrations, 10 MF-AC and 6 MFSB' samples were measured andithe infraAlyzer values of the various components compared with the lab values from PM-Richmond and/or QA-PME. All infraAlyzer values were found to be in good agreement with the lab values.

RESEARCH ANDDEVELOPMENT, NEUCHATEL - QUARTERLY REPORT' PLANS Since the number of samples for the calibrations was relatively small, the check of validity will continue.