Analytics

Vitamin analysis is carried out either microbiologically using the  VitaFast^® kits developed by ifp or by means of instrumental equipment (high performance liquid chromatography, HPLC).

VitaFast^® for Water-soluble Vitamins

Analysis of all water-soluble vitamins (except for vitamin C) is done with the VitaFast^® kits developed and produced by ifp. These kits are an innovative advancement of the official method which has been the gold standard in the analysis of water-soluble vitamins for decades. The method uses microorganisms, the growth of which depends on the presence of the vitamin in the sample, in order to detect and quantify the vitamin of interest.

This traditional method requires a substantial amount of work and extensive microbiological expertise. The time to result averages one week or more.

With VitaFast^®, ifp successfully transferred the official method into a ready-to-use microtiter plate format. Thus, incoming samples can be analysed immediately and with high precision. Results are usually available after just 48 hours. Click here for more information on VitaFast^®.

Vitamin	Limit of Quantification  in 100 g (ml)1
B1 (thiamin)	0.012 mg
B2 (riboflavin)	0.04   mg
B3 (niacin)	0.016 mg
B5 (pantothenic acid)	0.04   mg
B6 (pyridoxine)	0.002 mg
B7 (biotin)	0.08   µg
B9 (folic acid)	0.16   µg
B12 (cyanocobalamin)	0.03   µg
Inositol	0.5     mg

¹ For a 1 g sample; the quantification limit can be further decreased by    increasing the amount of sample.

Enzymatic Determination of Vitamin C

The vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content in foodstuffs is determined by means of EnzymeFast^®, the new microtiter plate based enzymatic product line developed by ifp. Unlike the conventional method, this format no longer requires single measurements in cuvettes, thus allowing for much more efficient sample processing. The EnzymeFast^® quantification limit for vitamin C is < 5 mg/100 g (ml).

HPLC for Fat-soluble Vitamins and Vitamin C

The fat-soluble parameters and vitamin C are determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Detection is carried out using a fluorescence detector (FLD) or a diode array UV detector (DAD).

 

Vitamin	Limit of Quantification  in 100 g (ml)
A (β-carotene/retinol)	4.0 µg1
D2/D3 (ergocalciferol/cholecalciferol)	0.3 µg1
E (α-*, β-, δ-, ε-tocopherols)  * enantiomer separation possible for    α-D- and α-L-tocopherol	0.2 µg1
K1/K2 (phylloquinone/menaquinone)	2.0 µg2
C (ascorbic acid)	0.5 mg3

based on a sample amount of: ¹ 10 g; ² 3 g; ³ 5 g