Frequency and amount of quality controls during production
It depends on what you use your samples for.
- Accelerated shelf life
- Micro testing
- References
- Authenticity
- CoA analyses
Micro typically requires 10g/test (plus an amount if re-testing is required) so 100g here
Shelf life would be another 50g
Reference samples to compare against customer complaints might be another 100g, possibly more depending on granularity
Authenticity/CoA analysis might be another 50 - 100g
If all the above, you might be a little short.
It depends on what you use your samples for.
- Accelerated shelf life
- Micro testing
- References
- Authenticity
- CoA analyses
Micro typically requires 10g/test (plus an amount if re-testing is required) so 100g here
Shelf life would be another 50g
Reference samples to compare against customer complaints might be another 100g, possibly more depending on granularity
Authenticity/CoA analysis might be another 50 - 100g
If all the above, you might be a little short.
We use external laboratories for micro, heavy metals, pesticides etc. So these quantities are not part of previous mentioned 300 gr samples.
(We take almost 1000 gr for analysis of each batch)
Samples for shelf life and reference are not included either. We save between 500-1000 gr of each batch for that.
I felt that out of 200 tons we "only" check about 26 kg against the specification tolerance (% of other plant materials, % of damaged/unripe/over riped pieces etc)
To me that sounds little but maybe it isn't?
If your 300g is enough for your assesment of the product against the specification, then it is a sufficient sample. The next challenge is to determine if an hourly check is enough. A risk assessment is a good place to start. What is the variability within the product over time? For example, I used to work with ice cream which was made in 7 tonne batches and stored in tanks. A day's run was up to 4 tanks. The tank was continuously agitated which kept it homogeneous, so we were testing each tank for homogeneity as well as comparing each batch.
Look at the process and your experience.