The ifp Institute for Product Quality, based in Berlin, is an accredited, owner-managed laboratory for food analysis as well as the analysis of feed, drinking water, and pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the company is involved in a number of research projects, developing and producing innovative diagnostics for use in research and testing laboratories. Work in a new building commenced in early February 2020. The owner, Dr Wolfgang Weber, introduces his portfolio.

sweets processing: What is it like to look back on what started with the operating business in 2005? Dr Wolfgang Weber: It’s a great feeling, especially when you consider that I started with a table and a chair all by myself in an office and had to borrow private money to start with. Today, 350 employees work at our headquarters in Berlin-Adlershof in a laboratory and production facility of around 20,000 square metres. When you include our four subsidiaries in Germany, there are just over 400 employees.

sp: In which areas is the institute active? Weber: In our subsidiaries, we mostly carry out microbiological analyses of food, drinking water, and water from cooling systems. In Berlin, as far as food safety and drinking water are concerned, we are now a fullservice analysis provider in all matters. The fact that we conduct research and development as well as we develop innovative diagnostics that are distributed worldwide through selected sales partners is worth mentioning.

sp: What were the most important stages? Weber: Since the institute was founded in December 2004, important milestones include many successful research projects combined with the development of our test kits and the patents. Of course, there is also the continuous development of a comprehensive institute for food safety and analysis as well as ongoing accreditations. Other important milestones were the recruitment of good, long standing employees and the decision to build a laboratory complex in Berlin-Adlershof, along with the associated move from the city centre to Adlershof.

sp: Speaking of test kits: what solutions can you come up with here? Weber: Test kits are diagnostic instruments for use in industrial and testing laboratories. Our portfolio includes rapid tests, so called lateral flow tests, to analyse allergens on site and quantify ELISAs. Our DNA tests use real time PCR to detect genetically modified organisms, allergens, animal and plant species as well as pathogenic germs like salmonella and listeria. We have also brought microbiological vitamin analysis to microtiter plates in a ready to use format. Overall, our diagnostic tools are attracting increasing interest in the market.

sp: The ifp continues to grow in Adlershof. Which tasks are carried out in the new building? Weber: It is the most state of the art residue and contaminant centre in Europe. The premises offer comfortable workplaces for our employees and scientists. The entirely new environment is ideal for the increasingly sensitive measuring devices. As a result, everything is ideally coordinated. Pesticides, pollutants such as acrylamide, heavy metals, and mineral oils are analysed there, in addition to the increasingly contentious topic of packaging materials. With regard to these materials in particular, we examine the composition, as well as which contaminants can migrate into the food. This field of work is very complex and requires a high degree of expertise and equipment. Contaminants from packaging include familiar parameters like MOSH/MOAH as well as plasticizers, harmful antioxidants, and many more.

sp: What is the issue with packaging material?Weber: It involves the composition of materials and the associated transfer of harmful substances into food. There are globally migrating substances as well as specifically migrating substances. The packaging materials specifications provided by the manufacturer must be verified. Only after an indepth examination do we determine the analysis programmes in coordination with our customers. This requires specialists who can then assess the resultsobtained and evaluate them toxicologically. The scope of work requires an extensive amount of equipment. This usually includes gas and liquid chromatographs with special feed systems and massspecific detectors connected in series. The list of devices is quite long.

sp: Which innovations come into play and how can the confectionery and bakery industries benefit from them?Weber: We bring our highly sensitive measuring devices, mostly mass spectrometers, into an ideal environment. The devices are becoming increasingly sensitive, but also more susceptible to external influences, such as temperature or electricity fluctuations. Rooms that are practically perfectly equipped are becoming increasingly necessary. This enables us to meet the rising demands of our national and international customers, including the aforementioned industries, to process the analyses quickly and with high quality.

sp: How will analytics develop?Weber: The market requirements for the food production industry are increasing, and with it also the requirements for testing laboratories. In addition to the legislature, the media and NGOs are intensifying the situation. Evidence is becoming more sensitive. It will become possible to search predictively for existing pollutants. One speaks of nontarget analysis, that is, you look and see what results the mass spectrometer deliv-ers and evaluate those results for meaning. The automation processes for sample preparation will play a sharpening and decisive role for the future.

sp: What is the secret to your success?Weber: I don’t want to reveal that. Just one thing: there is an immense amount of work and commitment behind it. A portion of luck is also part of it. I think that today it has become more difficult to start out like we did back then. The requirements to operate a testing laboratory have increased steadily over the past ten years. Nowadays, it’s not so easy to get a new operation up and running.