Overview
Plan testing for your product
Raw grains, pulses, flour, fortified premixes and cooked cereal foods represent different matrices. Select quality, composition and safety work for the actual lot and processing state.
The final parameter set, analytical method and sample requirement are confirmed against the product type, applicable specification and testing objective.
Questions to resolve
Build the right testing scope
Commodity quality
Discuss moisture, composition or product-specific quality requirements.
Contaminants
Identify relevant mycotoxin, residue or metal questions and a representative sampling plan.
Finished-product changes
Review fortification, nutrition or microbial questions separately from raw-grain quality.
Detailed coverage
Product groups and examples
Food grains
Rice, wheat, rye, sorghum, barley, oats, corn, jowar, bajra and millet
FSSAI 2.4.6Cereal products
Durum wheat, semolina, pearl barley, quinoa, oats, corn flakes, vermicelli, macaroni, pasta and instant noodles
FSSAI 2.4Pulses and legumes
Lentil, chickpeas, cow peas, gram, beans, urad, moong, chana, arhar, horse gram, peas, soybean, rajmah, lobia and matki
Flours
Atta, maida, corn flour, besan, rice, jowar, bajra, ragi, sago, multigrain and mixed-millet flour
Fortified and other products
Fortified flour, cereal premix, maize starch and papad
Millets
Rajgira, barnyard, brown-top, buckwheat, finger, foxtail, kodo, little, pearl and proso millet; sorghum and teff
Testing scope
Related analytical services
These are examples of product matrices for discussion. Confirm the available parameters, method and accredited coverage for the specific sample.
Technical Testing Parameters
The following parameters describe product-specific testing considerations. Test availability, method suitability and accredited coverage are confirmed against the sample and specification before quotation.
Physicochemical
moisture; protein; total ash; acid-insoluble ash; crude fibre; gluten and sedimentation where relevant; damaged grains; foreign matter; uric acid where applicable.
Processing and composition
starch; reducing sugars; fat; sodium; vitamin/mineral fortificants according to formulation; gluten quantification for a gluten-free claim.
Microbiology
aerobic colony count; yeast and mould; Bacillus cereus for relevant rice/starch preparations; Salmonella spp.; Escherichia coli where required.
Contaminants
Aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxins; deoxynivalenol for relevant cereals; ochratoxin A or fumonisins as risk/destination requires; lead; cadmium; arsenic/inorganic arsenic for relevant rice specifications; commodity-specific pesticide residues.
Regulatory Standards & Compliance
Product mapping: 2.4; 2.14 for applicable gluten-free products.
Use the current product standard and relevant contaminant, additive, microbiological and labelling requirements. Check the original notification and amendments; FSSAI's compendium is a reference aid and does not replace the legal notification.
For microbiology, agree the applicable criterion, sampling plan and test portion. For export or buyer specifications, confirm the destination, analyte and reporting limit separately. A classification code or test report does not itself confer regulatory approval.
Sample preparation and turnaround
Send dry, sealed samples; retain lot identity and sampling records. Mycotoxin lot sampling needs a separately defined plan.
Confirm the required quantity, number of unopened units, containers and transport conditions with the laboratory before dispatch. Chemistry portions and sterile microbiology portions may need separate containers; a composite cannot automatically replace an n-unit sampling plan.
Provide the product designation, ingredient list, processing state, batch identity, storage instructions, target market and required specification. Turnaround is confirmed in the quotation after the scope is agreed. Shelf-life, challenge and specialist investigations require a separate study schedule.
Questions about this product
Is deoxynivalenol relevant to every pulse?
No. Mycotoxin selection follows the commodity, storage risk and applicable requirement; a universal cereal/pulse toxin package is inappropriate.
Can whole-grain and flour specifications be interchanged?
No. Milling changes composition and the applicable standard; specify the exact product form.
Does gluten-free testing require a suitable extraction procedure?
Yes. Processing and fermentation can affect method suitability; select a validated matrix-appropriate method and regulatory interpretation.
Explore the evidence
Related testing and practical guidance
Relevant analytical services
Discuss your requirement