Why do we analyse Preservatives in canned food?

  Every food product has a target amount of each critical component or constituents. 
This is especially important since the components we are looking at are preservatives. Preservatives ought to be kept in that limited amount that is deemed as safe. Any higher amount consumed may cause dangerous side effects. Some of these food preservatives are tested on laboratory animals and when these animals consumed the preservatives in large quantity, their body reacted in a certain way that cause a disease. Hence there is a need to analyses the safety level of canned food and its nutritional value. 


  Varying from these targets set by Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) can affect the end product’s quality and cause undesirable effects. This is why manufacturers have to do quality check on the canned food products, or the check will be done by FDA inspectors. 
This can be achieved by following good manufacturing practice regulations specified by the FDA for specific food products and by having analytical techniques that are capable of detecting . In many situations it is important to use analytical techniques that have a high sensitivity, i.e., that can reliably detect low levels of harmful material. 
  
  Food manufacturers and government laboratories routinely analyze food products to ensure that they do not exceed the safety amount of preservatives and also ensure that they do not add any harmful substances in. All these procedures ensured that the food production facility is operating correctly.


  Analyzing the quantity of preservatives in canned food is important as it is a look out for the consumers' health and safety. Consuming a large amount of preservatives can lead to various side effects mentioned in a previous post. And it is also for quality control. Hence, we used Gas Liquid Chromatography to analyse as it is high in sensitivity and produces reliable results.