Focus on Food: New ways of measuring inorganic elements with XRF

Inorganic elements play an important part in human and animal nutrition. Elements like calcium and phosphorous are essential for many life functions, including bone growth. Conversely, elements such as lead and arsenic have negative implications for health. While some elements occur naturally in foodstuffs, they may also be deliberately or accidentally added during processing.

The most common technologies for monitoring inorganic elements during food processing are probably atomic absorption (AA) and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) has long been recognized as a useful analytical technology for determining the composition of materials, due to its ability to measure a wide range of elements and its simple sample preparation requirements. And yet, many people involved in food analysis have limited awareness of XRF’s potential benefits.

Historically, the high capital cost of XRF prevented widescale adoption in the food industry. In recent years, this capital cost disadvantage has changed thanks to the improving performance of energy dispersive XRF instruments. Consequently, the use of XRF in food processing is increasing.

This webinar will review the capabilities and applications of XRF, highlighting critical issues for its use and helping you understand the advantages and limitations of XRF in food analysis.