Foreign Bodies
Solving Customer Complaints
Leatherhead has considerable experience and expertise in analysing and identifying a wide range of foreign bodies including glass, plastics, metals, hairs and fibres, minerals, hazes and certain pharmaceutical products such as tablets.
Why identify them?
It is important for the manufacturer to know where the contamination has occurred. Therefore a rapid response to identify the object, its history, whether it has been processed and whether the contamination was malicious is essential.
How do we do it?
- Stereo and light microscopy
- Chemical spot tests
- Scanning electron microscopy with x-ray analysis to identify the elements present in the contaminant
- Mass spectrometry - can play a vital role in the identification of plastics and other organic materials
Analysis of adhering material and the condition of the sample - this can often indicate where in the process the contamination occurred - Testing for phosphatase on insects or meat samples - this can determine if they have been heated.
For full details of our accreditation visit www.ukas.org.
Submit a sample
Complete the form below if you wish to send us a sample or contact our Laboratory Support Team which will be happy to help you. Please email them at customerservices@letherheadfood.com or contact them on +44 (0)1372 822373.
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