Checking product quality with a refractometer

Ian Stoner, EU sales engineer for Bellingham and Stanley, part of Xylem, said customers use them to confirm the quality of their product during production.

“A typical application may be the concentration of orange juice. You add water to orange juice to a certain level and use a refractometer to confirm the reading​,” he told FoodQualityNews.com at Analytica trade show in Munich.

“In lots of plants a refractometer is one of the main measurements of quality of their products. Every batch is tested on a refractometer before it goes down to be packaged. Others just use it as an intermediate check through their process, different plants use it in different ways.”​

The firm have instruments from the digital OPTi hand-held device to RFM 340+ to measure the concentration of liquid, such as how much sugar is in a sugar and water mix.

The device can be used as a final check of a finished goods item or at the start to check the mixture is correct.