With increased emphasis on balanced, vegan or vegetarian diets, soy-based products are more widely used than ever. It’s because soy protein quality is comparable to animal sources. Soybeans are prized as a source of oil but after processing the oil, the bulk of the bean is left over as high protein soy meal and dispersed into the food chain in a variety of products and feed stocks.
Food production processes and environmental conditions such as water sources and feed stocks can sometimes increase chances of heavy metal contamination of the food chain as residues can become dangerously toxic through bioaccumulation and bio-magnification.
To protect public health and to keep contaminants at toxicologically acceptable levels, governmental regulators have set maximum limits for certain contaminants and guidelines for maximum tolerable weekly intake (MTW/PTW.)
This report describes the principle methodology for analysis of soy bean meal, lists typical limits of detection and demonstrates the performance for the analysis of the matrix elements that are achievable with the next generation SPECTRO ARCOS ICP-OES.