Anton Paar has introduced the Brabender GlutoPeak, a benchtop analyser designed to provide rapid gluten quality control at goods receipt, according to the company.
The system, which uses only 2.5g to 12g of flour or vital gluten suspended in water, stirs the sample at up to 3500 min⁻¹ and records a torque-time curve that captures gluten build-up, maximum strength and breakdown over time, as reported by Anton Paar. Within one to three minutes, it shows whether an incoming lot behaves as required, so qualified flour can go straight to the appropriate silo and critical batches are stopped before they reach production.
“With the GlutoPeak, quality control moves right to goods receipt,” said Dr Banu Sezer, Project Manager for the product. “Instead of waiting for downstream tests or trial bakes, users see within minutes whether a flour lot is fit for purpose – and can route or reject it before it disrupts production.”
According to the company, the integrated MetaBridge software automatically calculates peak time, peak torque and torque 15 seconds before and after the peak, translating aggregation speed, network strength and stability into numerical criteria that correlate with dough-processing and baking performance. Users can define quality reference curves and automatically flag deviations.
The system features simple two-step handling that eliminates the need for sieving or sample transfers, according to Anton Paar. An integrated method database contains pre-validated, application-specific parameters for standard flour, vital gluten and low-protein flour, supporting up to 10 tests per hour. MetaBridge allows access to measurements and evaluations from any PC, phone or tablet, with results transferable to LIMS or third-party systems.
According to the company, the analyser is designed to enable mills, bakeries and pasta producers to control flour and gluten quality, stabilise recipes and deliver consistent end products as raw-material variability increases under changing fertiliser regulations.
