Vitamins are microconstituents of foodstuffs often indicated as “accessories” because they don't have any energy-giving or plastic power, but they are essential in order to guarantee the normal performance of biological activities.
The deficiency of vitamins causes real diseases or particular troubles (pellagra, beriberi, rickets).
Our body isn't able to produce sufficient quantities of these molecules and though they must be assumed with foods.
Chemical structure of vitamins is very various and complex and the only existing classification distinguishes vitamins into two groups:
- Water-soluble vitamins:
* Thiamine (vitamin B1)
* Riboflavine (vitamin B2)
* Niacin or nicotinic acid (vitamin B3 or vitamin PP)
* Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)
* Cobalamine (vitamin B12)
* Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
* Biotin (vitamin H)
* Folic acid (vitamin B9)
* Pyridoxine or pyridoxamine or pyridoxale (vitamin B6)
- Liposoluble vitamins:
* Vitamin A (Retinol and analogous)
* Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
* Vitamin D (Colecalcipherol and ergocalcipherol)
* Vitamin K (Naphtochinone and derivatives)
The assumption of vitamins should be constant during the time and regulated by the quantities which italian law fixed in D. Lgs. N° 77 of 16/02/1993. Too much restrictive diets could lead to vitaminic deficiencies and then cause some pathologies, while an excess of vitamins could cause phenomena of toxicity.
Therefore it's necessary to know the exact vitaminic content of foodstuffs.
Referring to the topic above specified, Chemical Control laboratory is able to support the customer in the quantitative analytical determination of the above mentioned vitamins in foods.
Vitamins B12, B5, B9 and vitamin H are determined using microbiological methods, while all the other determinations are performed by means of HPLC instrumental technique with fluorimetric, DAD and MS detectors.
In particular testing of vitamin C, vitamin B1, B2, B6, B5, B9 are under Sinal accreditation according to UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025:2000 standard.
For the other tests, when it's possible, analytical performances are checked by means of the participation in ring tests or utilizing reference materials in order to guarantee the reliability of the analytical results.
The laboratory is also able to perform shelf-life studies on different foods in different preservation conditions in order to know the real vitaminic content during product shelf-life.
The long and differentiated experience in these determinations makes Chemical Control a reliable partner for the determination and problem solving in relation to the dosages and the stability of vitamins in foodstuffs.
For further information please contact:
FOOD CHEMISTRY
BAUDINO dr. Simone
Tel. +39 0171 412470
HYGIENE AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
FORESTA dr. Paola
Tel. +39 0171 412470
