MAP gas analysis of gluten free bakery products at Ultrapharm Ltd

Ultrapharm Ltd started their gluten free bakery business in 1993, manufacturing a small product line to coeliac’s in the UK. They were one of the first gluten free producers to bake to order and deliver the next day. Over time the range has developed to over 200 different lines a day, including crumpets, sausage rolls, cornish pasties, battenburg cakes etc. In order to establish themselves for the European market a gluten free bakery site was established in 2005 in Poland. This site specialises in modified atmosphere packaging to achieve a longer shelf life of up to six months and the process of freezing bread, rolls and filled pastries and pies. From the Polish manufacturing site, 95% of the bakery products are exported to Italy, Germany, France, UK and Ireland. In 2008 a new state of the art baking facility was opened in Pontypool, South Wales from where the retail trade is directly supplied and their team of product developers work on improving and adding to the current product line. Ultrapharm’s quality control laboratory uses Systech Illinois’ premier oxygen and carbon dioxide headspace analyser, the Gaspace Advance, to monitor their modified atmosphere packs at regular intervals. The Gaspace Advance confirms that the packaging is reliably sealed and the inert atmosphere is within specification to ensure the maximum shelf life of its products. Marc Lewis, Managing Director of Ultrapharm Ltd says, “Using the Gaspace Advance for testing the modified atmosphere packages is quick and easy, allowing us to ensure our products are maintained to a high standard of quality for the UK retail market and our growing export market.” The Gaspace Advance is the ideal instrument for testing MAP, the probe is inserted into a pack and with one press of a button the result is shown on the LCD display as a percentage of oxygen or carbon dioxide. This analysis takes less than five seconds. Calibration and programming of the Systech Illinois carbon dioxide and oxygen analyser is simple and because of the self-diagnostics any sampling errors are eliminated.

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