Major Investment Brings Major Benefits

A powerful new scanning electron microscope has been brought into the microscopy laboratories at Reading Scientific Services Ltd. It will allow RSSL to image a wider range of food samples at very high magnification to investigate the fine structural detail that lies behind the texture and performance of many foods.

The JEOL JSM6480LV is a variable pressure instrument. The main benefit of the variable pressure facility is that it means moist organic materials, which describes most foods, can be viewed without extensive sample preparation. The instrument is also fitted with a high performance cryo-stage, which will allow frozen samples to be imaged at very high resolution. Using the cryo-stage it is possible, for example, to look at the distribution of fat, water and air particles in products such as spreads, ice-creams, salad creams, sauces etc. The instrument will also look at the surface coatings of foods.

Although RSSL has had a scanning electron microscope in the past, the performance of this new instrument is far superior and will permit a wider range of food research projects to be completed. It will also be used for foreign body identification and environmental analyses.