Testing of Preservative Chemical

Hi

We currently use Sodium Metabisulphite in our peeled potato production which we add to our dip wheels.

Our products can be from whole, to chips, to dice, to quarter.

We test weekly to see our levels to ensure we are meeting the legal requirements of <50mg/kg. Sometimes we do exceed this and to take corrective action is non existent as the product has done by the time we get our results back.

Has anybody got any advice on how this should be done regarding sampling and dwell times possibly being introduced.

Thanks 

Astro,

It seems that testing weekly is not sufficient to monitor the preservative use in your product.

I would suggest testing the preservative concentration more frequently on a daily basis and keeping track of concentration for each batch of product you manufacture. 

I have not worked with potatoes before but when I worked with dried fruit with added preservative, we use to take sample of fruit every hour and test it collectively at the  end of the day.  If the concentration of  sample was above our specification, the product would go to hold. We could generally rework by mixing with  fresh batch at certain percentage.  Our preservative needed dilution. So, we  would also test preservative concentration at the point of use at the beginning, middle and end of the shift.

Hope this helps.

-Sam

We test our in process chemicals twice/shift everyday

I agree with Sam, weekly isn't sufficient. At minimum you should be checking at start up, mid shift and end of shift 

Hi

Sorry I may not of made myself clear enough  :oops2:

We test our levels at the start and every hour - Levels in the dip wheel. I was talking more on the product it self..... We send the product away to the lab to confirm levels still on the material

Ah

This sounds like you need to perform a validation study to know exactly how much preservative to use based on varying factors (whole- slice - dice-peeled/unpeeled)

Are you taking a random sample throughout the week and making that a composite sample, or are you just sending one grab sample?

Thanks all

I also suspect the level is higher in your diced and chip items compared to whole potatoes.  Maybe you need to have different amounts based upon the product you are running.