Impiego della tecnica FT-NIR per la determinazione rapida del contenuto di etanolo in prodotti da forno

In foodstuffs such as bread and snack cakes the use of EtOH as preservative agent or for adding flavours is very common and the rapid assessment of its level in the products is of the utmost importance for the bakery industry. In this work the use of FT-NIR has been investigated for the assessment of the EtOH content in 3 different kind of bread up to a maximum level of 2% (w/w dry matter) as well as in 7 snack cakes with different fillings up to a maximum level of 1% (w/w). Due to the great difference among the breads and the snack cakes, it has been necessary to develop a specific milling and mixing procedure for each product before running the FT-NIR analysis. Over 150 spectra were acquired for each item and by using chemiometric methods it has been possible to develop specific predictive models for each product. The analytical procedure was then validated also with reference to analytical data obtained by gas chromatography according to an Italian official method of analysis for EtOH content in bakery products.