How do food producers measure the exact amount of carbs, proteins, vitamins etc. in a piece of food?
In: Biology
On a unprocessed beef sample.. if you run moisture, fat, protein and Ash it will add up to 100%. I can tell you that.
Moisture is easy. Weigh a sample put it in the oven for 4 hrs at 125C when it cools off weigh it back.
Ash weigh a crucible.. weigh in a sample.. ash at 550C until it’s ashed .. weigh it back
Fat.. weigh a sample then dry it. Weigh a flask Then using an extractor using petroleum ether to extract the fat into the flask for 4 hrs. Then dry off the ether. And weigh the flask to determine how much fat is extracted
Protein.. weigh a sample into a kjeldahl flask. Add in a catalyst and sulphuric acid and digest for 2hrs. When done add water and add sodium hydroxide to neutralize the acid and distill into a .2N acid flask. Then titrate with .2N base till the endpoint. Then you calculate the titration. Then calculate the amount of nitrogen in the sample. From that you can calculate the amount of protein.
The other things you asked about also have laboratory tests to determine.
There are standard methods. Most things have a method making organization. AOAC ( Association of Official Analytical Chemists) is a large one that encompasses this stuff. Pretty much anything bought and sold has a standards organization. This makes sure that everyone is on the same level. So when you buy x you get x.
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