Physical and Chemical Testing

Cotecna offers a range of comprehensive solutions throughout the supply chain for physical and chemical testing of products. Our services ensure adherence to the main international regulatory and technical standards and guarantee the quality and safety of your products.

Physical and chemical testing involves the analysis of various properties and composition of products to ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations. In sectors like food production, rigorous control of chemical, physical, and microbiological characteristics is essential to ensure the health and safety of consumers. Analytical testing throughout the production chain, from raw materials to finished products, is vital for quality assurance and risk mitigation.

The Microanalytics department of our Neotron laboratory is equipped with cutting-edge technologies, such as 30 LC-MS/ MS and 20 GC-MS/MS; analyses that enable to determine pesticides residues, mycotoxins, food additives, vitamins, micropollutants (IPA, MCPD, solvents), some types of allergens, and nutritional parameters for the characterization of food (fatty acids, sterols, sugars).

Nutritional tests involve the determination of proteins, carbohydrates, fibres and fats, ash, water content, while specific analyses are used to study the characteristics of wines, vinegars, fats and oils, dairy products, baked goods and processed foods in general.

Other determinations concern the analysis of raw materials in accordance with the European Pharmacopoeia, American Pharmacopoeia and Food Chemical Codex. Physical and chemical-physical analyses are also carried out with dedicated instruments (gamma radioactivity, detection of irradiated foods, viscosity, density, etc.). The molecular biology techniques used in the department are ELISA, Real Time PCR, Digital PCR and DNA sequencing.

The main application scope is the determination of GMOs, allergens and identification of meat, fish, plant and bacterial species. The analytical techniques applied, together with instrumental determinations performed by other departments, allow to complete the offer for the detection of allergenic foodstuff included in the list provided for by relevant.

Dedicated department dealing with defining and performing compliance tests for materials intended to come into contact with food products. The samples analysed include all categories of materials which may come into contact with foodstuff: flexible and rigid plastic materials, paper, aluminium, metals, and alloys and much more.

Applied methods comply with international regulations, moreover it is possible to create customized protocols based on use and test specifications. The participation in an international technical network gives us the possibility to constantly stay updated about the most recent technical developments.

Request an Analysis

To learn more about our food safety services, or to request and analysis for your business, please contact us.