University of Tehran Researchers Find Solution to Assess Quality of Infant Formula
In a recent study conducted by Mohsen Aqaziarati, a PhD student in analytical chemistry at the University of Tehran under the guidance of Hassan Sereshti, a professor at the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science at the University of Tehran, an advanced method was proposed for detecting natural vanillin from synthetic vanillin used in foods.
“First, the extracted vanillin was measured using a gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) device. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the method, four natural vanilla plants from Madagascar, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and India were prepared as samples and their extracts were tested with this method as a reference sample,” Sereshti said.
“In the next step, samples of infant formula and vanilla cake powder were purchased and tested using this method to determine the type of vanillin,” he added.
The results of this research were recently published by the American Chemical Society in the journal ACS Food Science & Technology.
In a relevant development in February, Iranian researchers at an industrial company active in making dairy products had also indigenized two raw materials for production of milk powder.
“At present, we are producing the basic raw materials of infant formula and we have been able to produce nearly 80% of the raw materials of the milk powder inside the country,” said Bahram Mehrdad, the production supervisor of the company.
“We have been able to produce and indigenize the two main ingredients of milk powder, namely baby skimmed milk powder and 90% demineral powder, which is known as D90 in industry. D90 constitutes about 50% of infant formula and skimmed milk constitutes about 20%-30% of infant formula,” he added.
Noting that the products are based on the national and international standards, Mehrdad said, “We are expanding our equipment so that we can supply most of the raw materials for milk powder production to the Iranian companies.”
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