COLLABORATIVE STUDY ON STARCH IN RAW SUGAR USING THE SPRI RAPID STARCH METHOD

摘要

Residual starch in cane sugar can be an important quality factor during refining. Many methods for starch analysis exist, but there is no standardized method. At its August 2003 meeting, the U.S. National Committee on Sugar Analysis recommended that SPRI organize a collaborative study within the United States on the recently developed SPRI rapid starch test. Fourteen laboratories participated, representing refineries, raw sugar mills and laboratories throughout the United States. Six raw sugars, with starch concentrations ranging from 112 to 746 ppm were analyzed as blind duplicates. The results indicated that the variability of the method fell within the parameters of an acceptable collaborative study, with the Horwitz ratio (a criterion used to assess reproducibility) falling below 2.0, except for one sample. Since thirteen of the fourteen participating labs were unfamiliar with the method, this was an excellent outcome, and it is recommended that this method be adopted for determining starch in raw sugar.