What is PD CEN/TR 16875 -Technical report on the determination of impurities in maize and sorghum about?
PD CEN/TR 16875 is a European standard on cereal and cereal products that discusses a technical report of the interlaboratory study for the determination of impurities content in maize (Zea mays, L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, L.) to ensure maize and sorghum is safe for consumption.
The term impurities apply to all components of a grain sample that differ from the normal basic cereal. It includes the following groups: broken grains, other cereals, grains damaged by pests, grains overheated during drying, sprouted grains, extraneous seeds, unsound grains, extraneous matter, and impurities of animal origin.
The principle of the determination of impurities content is to separate all the groups of impurities from the normal basic cereal grains of unimpaired quality by sieving and manual selection out of a subsample and to quantify them. There are various problems in the determination of impurities:
Firstly, the identification of the distinct groups of impurities depends strongly on the experience and the knowledge of the investigator. Also, experienced investigators can differ in their characterization of grains.
Finally, one is faced with the fact that grain, even after mixing, is rarely homogenous. In other words, if a sample were divided by a sample divider into a number of portions, the amount of a specific group of impurities in each portion could be different, even if absolutely no human or machine error occurred in each determination.
These problems will result in variation of the results of the determination.
An international interlaboratory test for the determination of impurities, according to PD CEN/TR 16875 and involving 14 laboratories in 4 countries, was carried out with 5 maize and 3 sorghum samples. It was asked to participants to make determinations in duplicate.
Ten laboratories reported results for the complete sample set and two only for corns.
The test materials ranged between:
- 0,0 % and 2,7 % for broken grains
- 0,2 % and 3,5 % for grain impurities
- 0,0 % and 0,1 % for sprouted grains
- 0,5 % and 3,3 % for miscellaneous impurities
- 1,8 % and 8,7 % for total impurities
The aim of the study is to determine the precision, repeatability, and reproducibility of the method of determination of impurities content in maize and sorghum samples.
Who is PD CEN/TR 16875 - Technical report on the determination of impurities in maize and sorghum for?
PD CEN/TR 16875 on the technical report on the determination of impurities in maize and sorghum is useful for:
- Food scientists
- Cereal and cereal products manufacturers
- Food technologists
- Food laboratories
- Food health and safety departments
Why should you use PD CEN/TR 16875 - Technical report on the determination of impurities in maize and sorghum?
The principle of the determination of impurities is to separate all the groups of impurities from the normal basic cereal grains of unimpaired quality by sieving and manual selection out of a subsample and to quantify them. The amount of impurities and their constituent groups is important for health, cleaning, milling and further processing aspects.
PD CEN/TR 16875 provides you with the design of the study, methods, design and schedule of the study, homogeneity and stability, statistics, results of the interlaboratory study and detection of stragglers and outliers.
The methods provided by PD CEN/TR 16875 assist in the determination of impurities in maize and sorghum, improve the quality of maize and sorghum and ensure reduction in the health issues due to consumption of these impurities.
With obedience and compliance to PD CEN/TR 16875, you can enhance the efficacy of the cereal and cereal products and manufacture a standardized high-quality product.
