Presented by

INTRODUCTION
CHARLES TAN, RND
TO FOOD Faculty, Nutrition
ANALYSIS and Arts Dept.
CHIM-OLFU; ICT-UDM

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SAMPLING AND SAMPLE
PREPARATION

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 What is the Purpose of the
Analysis
• Official Samples
• Raw Materials
• Process Control Samples
• Finished Products

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 Sampling
 Obtaining a portion that is
representative of the whole
 The total quantity from which
sample is obtained is the
population
 Its important to clearly define
your population
 Adequate sampling techniques
helps ensure sample quality
 The quality of sampling and
analytical data is a major
determinant of database quality
Objectives of Sampling
• Primary: To collect food
samples that are
representative and then to
ensure that changes in
composition do not take place
between collection and
analysis.
• Secondary: To document
natural variability in samples
as it relates to factors such as
season, geography, cultivar
and husbandry.
 Some basic terms
• Sample
– A portion selected from a larger
quantity of material
• General term used for a unit taken
from the total amount of food
• Sampling protocol
– A predetermined procedure for the
selection, withdrawal, preservation
and preparation of the sample
• Sometimes called a sampling plan
• Characteristic
– The property or constituent that is
to be measured or noted
• Description of the food, nutrient and
other analyses
sampling plan

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 Some basic terms
 Homogeneity
 The extent to which a property or
constituent is uniformly distributed
 Foods are usually heterogeneous or
must be assumed to be so
 Sampling error
 The part of the total error associated with
using only a fraction of the total
population of food and extrapolating it to
the whole population. This arises from
the heterogeneity of the population
Sometimes called a sampling plan
 Because of the heterogeneous
nature of foods, replicate samples
must be taken when estimating the
composition of the population of a
food
 Some basic terms
• Batch
– A quantity of food that is known, or
assumed, to be produced under
uniform conditions
• Batch numbers should always be noted
when sampling foods
• Unit
– Each of the discrete, identifiable units
of food that are suitable for removal
from the population as samples and
that can be individually described,
analyzed or combined
• These units form the basis of most food
analysis work (e.g. an apple, a bunch of
bananas, a can of beans, a prepared dish)
Sampling approach
• The selection of a
representative sample and
the combined protocols for
sampling and analysis must
be based on a clear
understanding of the nature
of the foods and the
population of food being
studied (i.e. all the
individual units of the
food).
 Sources of Food
• Bulk commodities
• Meat carcasses, bulk consignments of grain, fruit,
vegetables, wine, edible fats

• Compositional data obtained are commonly used in

commerce or for surveillance of imports or the misuse of
growth stimulants and industrial recipes

• Standard sampling procedures developed: these should be

followed: International Organization for Standardization
(ISO, 2003); Official Methods of the Association of
Analytical Communities (AOAC International, 2002, 2003);
Codex Alimentarius (FAO, 1994; FAO/WHO, 2003)
 Sources of Food
• Bulk commodities
• Several samples may need to be taken from separate sacks, cases,
packages or carcasses, and at several points in a silo or container

• Random sampling is preferable to the collection of readily accessible

units.

• It is advised to take samples during the loading or unloading of a

consignment.

• Special probes or triers are required for sampling finely particulate

foods (e.g. sugar, grain), fluids (e.g. milk) or solids (e.g. cheese).

• Nutrient analyses are often limited to major components, but generally

involve many analysed samples
 Sources of Food
• Wholesale commodities and Foods

– Meat carcasses, prime cuts, bulk packs of foods, often

for institutional use

– Sampling of wholesale foods generally follows the

principal approaches used with bulk commodities.
Randomization of sampling is essential.

– Food compositional data also useful in intake

assessment
 Sources of Food
• Retail foods
– Foods as sold to the consumer, e.g. meat cuts,
vegetables, fruits, wine, processed foods

– These foods constitute the majority of foods included

in food composition databases in industrialized
countries.

– For primary products such as meats, fruits or

vegetables, the major concern of the sampling protocol
is to ensure that the complete range of sales outlets is
represented
 Sources of Food
• Retail foods
– The potential for regional variation also needs to be
covered in the design of the sampling protocols.

– Proprietary foods constitute an important range of

foods in many countries and their composition should
be included in the database.

– Where a database is prepared by government

personnel there is often reluctance to include brand
names.
 Sources of Food
 Field or garden produce

 Foods grown or gathered, hunted animals

 These sources of food are often ignored in industrialized countries.

 These foods tend to be much more variable – the composition of

plant foods is especially dependent on the soils and fertilizer
treatments.

 Food composition used mainly to assess household and individual

food and nutrient intake.

 Most field or garden produce is eaten seasonally as fresh and then

preserved according to traditional methods that can differ
substantially from commercial practice.
 Sources of Food
• Uncultivated and wild foods

– Many communities, especially those living a “hunter-

gatherer” or semi-nomadic style of life, consume
substantial quantities of wild plant and animal foods.

– Their inclusion in a database can be very useful for

those studying the nutrition of such groups.

– Collecting samples of these foods can pose particular

problems.
 Sources of Food
• Uncultivated and wild foods
– Collecting samples of these foods can pose particular
problems. They may be difficult to identify properly
and also tend to be variable in composition and
maturity

– They may be difficult to identify properly and also

tend to be variable in composition and maturity

– Random sampling is virtually impossible and

“convenience” sampling, as the opportunity arises, is
the only option.
 Sources of Food
• Foods as consumed

– Foods at the level of consumption, e.g. cooked dishes

(single or multiple ingredients), street foods

– These foods – “on the plate” – comprise cooked foods

of all kinds, including complex mixed dishes.

– Simulation of the cooking procedures in the laboratory

or dedicated kitchens is often used to prepare samples
for analysis
 Sources of Food
• Foods as consumed
– Collection of cooked dishes from a randomly selected
range of households would provide more
representativeness, and is sometimes, therefore, the
preferred approach

– Samples of institutionally prepared foods from, for

example, hospitals, industrial and public canteens and
educational establishments, are more easily obtained

– Food composition used to assess individual

consumption and nutrient intake
Major sources of variability in nutrient
composition

Foods are inherently

variable in composition,
and the approach to
sampling and the design of
the sampling and analytical
protocols need to take
account of this factor.
 Major sources of variability in nutrient composition
• Geographical samples
– In a single country Lanzones
there may be a wide of Laguna
diversity of soil
and climatic
conditions
– Variations in food
marketing and food Lanzones of
preparation within Camiguin
different parts of a
country
Geographically-specific data may be
presented in the database as a supplement Lanzones of
to nationwide and/or region wide Sulu
averages.
Major sources of variability in nutrient composition
• Seasonal samples
– Seasonal variations in nutrient
Cooler
composition need to be months
accommodated in the combined ube
protocols.
– Plant foods are especially prone
to variation: water, carbohydrate
and vitamin content
– Fish :especially in fat content
• milk and milk products exhibit warmer
variations in vitamin: due to months
seasonal differences in feeding ube
patterns
Major sources of variability in nutrient composition

• Physiological state and maturity

– The states of maturity of plants and animal foods cause
variation in composition
– Concentrations of sugars, organic acids and vitamins in many
plants, and of fats and some minerals in animal foods.
– The storage of plant foods affects water and vitamin contents
and levels of some organic nutrients: residual plant
metabolism in storage.
• Cultivar and breed
– These may be a significant source of variation for some
nutrients
– It is desirable to document the cultivar or breed variation within
the database.
 Nutrient composition of banana
cultivars
Banana Edible Water Energy Calcium Phos Iron ß carotene
Variety Portion g kJ (kcal) mg mg mg mcg
Cavendish 64 74.4 435 (104) 139 20 0.8 75
Botoan 57 74.4 422 (101) 21 27 0.4 25
Ternatensis 62 66.3 552 (132) 15 19 0.9 370
Lacatan 69 68 527 (126) 21 34 0.8 360
Violacea 67 73.1 447 (107) 19 21 0.7 285
Compressa 57 72.2 460 (110) 23 36 0.9 190
Ternatensis 64 66.2 560 (134) 11 24 0.7 325
Tuldoc 76 74.8 414 (99) 26 28 1.6 1370
Uht en yap 69.5 2780

Philippine Food composition tables, 1997 and Englberger et al. 2003 JFCA
 Methods of sampling
• Random sampling In creating a salad:
– Random samples are
collected in such a way as
to ensure that every item
in the population of the
food being sampled has an
equal chance of being
collected and incorporated
into the sample to be
analyzed
– It is more usual to set up a
stratification of the food
population.
 Methods of sampling
 Stratified sampling
 In this method the population of
food is classified into strata,
taking into account the most
important causes of variation.
 Units of sampling are taken
from defined strata (subparts) of
parent population. Within each
stratum the samples are taken
randomly
 Often the most suitable method
for use in database work. Strata
may the be regional, seasonal,
retail sale point, etc., as defined
by knowledge of the food being
studied
 Methods of sampling
• Selective sampling In creating a STRICT
– Samples are taken VEGETARIAN salad:
according to a sampling
plan that excludes material
with certain characteristics
or selects only those with
defined characteristics
– Most commonly used in eliminate
the analysis of
contaminants. Can be used, eliminate
with caution, for database
work
– Legitimately used in the
analysis of contamination,
where the objective may be
to identify maximal
exposure to contaminants.
 Methods of sampling
• Convenience sampling Use lettuce
only
– Samples are taken on the
available at
basis of accessibility, SM
expediency, cost or other hypermarket
reason not directly
concerned with sampling
Use Eden
parameters cheese only
– Rarely suitable for due to low
database work but may price
be the only practicable
way to sample wild or
uncultivated foods or
composite dishes from
 Limits on sampling methods
In all methods the compositional data obtained can
only be an estimate of the composition of the food
and are subject to limitations imposed by the
variation in the composition of foods
 Sampling Plan
• A sampling plan is a predetermined procedure for
the selection, withdrawal, preservation,
transportation and preparation of the portion to be
removed from a lot as samples.
• The sampling plan should be a clearly written
document containing details such as;
- Number of samples selected
- Sample location (s).
- Method of collecting samples

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 Factors Affecting a Sampling
Plan
• Purpose of inspection
-acceptance/rejection, variability/average

• Nature of the product

-homogenous, unit, cost

• Nature of the test method

-Critical/minor, destructive, cost, time

• Nature of the population

-uniformity, sublot
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 Developing a Sampling Plan
• Number of samples selected
-Variation in properties, cost, type of analytical techniques

• Sample location
-random sampling vs systematic sampling vs judgment sampling

• Manner in which the samples are collected

-manual vs mechanical device

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 The Bottom Line in Sampling
• Depending upon the nature of the material
to be analyzed, you must determine a
method of taking small subsamples from a
large lot ( 5,000 lb blender, 20 combos on a
truck etc) that accurately reflect the overall
composition of the whole lot.
• An inaccurate sample of a large lot may
actually be worse than no sample at all.
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 Preparation of Laboratory
Samples
• You may have taken as much as 10 lbs of sub-
samples from a lot that now needs to be further
reduced in size;
-Make the sample homogeneous by mixing and grinding
and then more sub-sampling.
-Be aware of any changes that might occur between sampling and
analysis and take proper action ( e.g. enzymatic action, microbial
growth etc).
-Properly label the final sample with name, date/time, location, person
and other pertinent data.

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