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Chemical Analysis

We offer a diverse range of methods that are applicable to food products and ingredients, as well as polymeric food packaging materials.

As an FDA registered and ISO certified laboratory, SGS Polymer Solutions has the capabilities to serve the food industry with testing that is compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP/cGMP).  Our facilities and quality system have been audited by the FDA and are routinely audited by representatives of our clients.  Our experience in testing polymers, food products, and pharmaceuticals provides unique advantages for solving complex problems through analytical methods.  Many of our standard methods can be applied to food testing, and we are always willing to work with clients to develop custom methods for a particular need.

Approaches

Below are some approaches SGS PSI considers for Food Packaging Testing:

  • Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC/mDSC)
  • UV-Visible Spectroscopy
  • Water Content by Karl Fischer Titration
  • Acidity, Alkalinity, pH
  • Solvent Extraction, Digestion, and Leachables
  • Specific Gravity and Density
  • High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
  • Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) 
  • Head Space Gas Chromatography
  • Rheology
  • Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)
  • Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS)
  • Compression, Tensile, and Flexural Mechanical Testing
  • Brookfield Viscometry
  • Fiber Content
Food Packaging Testing can be performed at FDA registered and ISO certified SGS PSI

Sample Considerations

Your sample considerations will vary based upon the testing plan required to meet your needs. Contact an expert to discuss your sample considerations.

Experience

Here are a few tangible ways we have helped clients with their Food Packaging Analysis and Food Testing needs:

  • A puffed cheese-flavored snack product had a bad odor when the packaging was opened after short-term storage and distribution to retail locations.  Headspace GC-MS was used to perform the odor analysis and find the composition of volatiles in the atmosphere around the product.  DSC and FT-IR were conducted on the packaging for material comparison.  The results showed that the packaging material was the same between good and bad samples.  The gas sample from the smelly product had volatile compounds that are evidence of lipid oxidation.  The atmospheric modification step was not thoroughly purging the container of air during packaging of the problematic batch.
  • A starch product used as an anti-caking additive was not performing in the same manner as previous batches that our client had purchased.  Karl Fischer Titration showed that the moisture contents of old and new samples were not significantly different.  DSC analysis showed that the “bad” batch was significantly more crystalline than samples from previous batches.  Thermal abuse from conditions during processing, storage, or shipping had led to retrogradation of the starch.  
  • The tear-away seal on a single-use container was delaminating instead of cleanly separating from the lip of the container.  A customized grip method was created for the Mechanical Test System and containers which had been sealed by different methods were opened by the instrument.  The seals which failed to open correctly were analyzed by SEM-EDS.  The bad seals failed under a lower tensile force than that required to open the good seals.  SEM-EDS showed cleavage between two film layers.  Inconsistent extrusion conditions had caused poor adhesion in regions of the sheets of material used to make the seals.