Romer Labs, a leading global food-safety diagnostic company, and Germany's ifp Institut für Produktqualität have launched a new product line for enzymatic food analysis, thereby expanding cooperation between the two companies.

The new product line EnzymeFast® transfers traditional enzymatic methods to a microtitre plate kit format - a significant benefit in routine food analysis.

Enzymatic food analysis is a basic method used for the measurement of compounds such as sugars, acids, alcohols and other metabolites in foods and beverages. The high specificity of enzyme reactions allows for the analysis of food components in complex matrices.

Enzymatic methods are particularly important for food production and quality assurance. Results give information on the nutrients, authenticity and hygienic status of foods. For example, levels of sugars are crucial for consumers suffering from intolerances and the presence of certain metabolites indicates a lack of hygiene during production. It is also possible to detect whether food has been tampered with using enzymatic methods.

The EnzymeFast® microtitre plate test kits employ highly purified and specific enzymes in a convenient and high-throughput format that allows the rapid and economic testing of different kinds of foodstuff and beverages.

EnzymeFast® products have been developed by ifp and will be distributed exclusively through Romer Labs' global sales network. The product line encompasses test kits for different types of sugars and the companies are in the final phase to add kits for alcohols and acids, too. Throughout the coming months, Romer Labs® and ifp will expand the product line continuously into other areas of enzymatic food analysis.