Device automates food safety testing
at food and drink plants.
Hach's new DR 2800 Portable Spectrophotometer reduces human error and allows testers to run 240 analytical methods without having to run back to the laboratory.
Spectrophotometers are used for detecting contamination in liquids. A spectrophotometer does this by measuring the intensity of the known wavelength transmitted by a substance or a solution. The reading allows scientists to measure of the amount of material in the solution absorbing the light.
The DR 2800 can run 240 analytical methods by reading barcodes on ready-to-use reagent vials. The barcodes allow the instrument to automatically recognise the test method, determine the reagent blank, and yield 10-fold measurement and averaging.
The method reduces reagent consumption and testing time while improving testing accuracy and productivity, Hach stated. The company markets its vial kits as TNTplus.
"At the same time, analysts benefit from the superior optical glassware, and convenient, flat bottoms of the new TNTplus reagent vials," Hach stated. "The packaging of the TNTplus vials is useful too - it's colour-coded by parameter and range, compact, and includes easy-to-understand pictogram instructions."
The integration of instrument and chemistry results in automatic method detection increases productivity and reduces errors, the company claims.
The spectrophotometer has a footprint of 8.5 in. (21.6 cm) by 13 inches (33 cm). The small instrument size lets testers bring it anywhere in the plant or the field for rapid, specific analyses. The testing instrument is made for companies in the food, brewing and beverage sectors.
It can be used in the lab with regular line power or in the field with the optional lithium-ion battery.
