Theoretical Framework - Ashes
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ScribdTranslationsTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORK (PRACTICE IV)
The determination of ash aims to determine the
content of organic matter and prepares the sample for extraction of
minerals and other inorganic compounds.
Rumination Nutrition, 1990
The ashes represent the fraction corresponding to the minerals of the
food. A certain amount of food is taken for its determination
previously weighed and is completely combusted in a muffle furnace at 550°C.
All the organic matter of the food is incinerated and only the compounds will remain.
inorganic. At these temperatures, a loss of certain minerals occurs.
like Cay elP, and the volatilization of others like Na, KyCl. The fraction
resulting is called ashes.
Once the dry matter (DM) and the ashes are determined, it can be obtained
the content of organic matter (OM) of a food such as:
MO = MS–Ashes
(Foundations of Animal Production, 2003)
In general, ash accounts for less than 5% of the dry matter of the
foods.
Minerals, along with water, are the only components of the
foods that cannot oxidize in the body to produce energy; for the
on the contrary, organic matter includes nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and
lipids) that can be burned (oxidized) in the body to obtain energy, and
it is calculated as the difference between the dry matter content of the food and the
content in ashes.
The ashes are defined as the residue that remains after burning in a
Furnace or muffle the organic components at 550 ºC for 5 hours. Sometimes it is
It is interesting to determine the ashes insoluble in hydrochloric acid, which aim to
represent the content of food in indigestible minerals.
As already described; ashes are the inorganic residue that remains
after completely removing the existing organic compounds in the sample, although
It must be taken into account that it does not contain the same elements as in
the intact sample, since there are losses from volatilization and conversion
interaction between chemical constituents.
Despite these limitations, the system is useful for specifying the quality of
some foods whose total ash content, or their determinations
derivatives that are water-soluble ashes, alkalinity of the ashes and ashes
insoluble in acid, is well defined. It partially facilitates its identification, or
It allows classifying the examined food based on its ash content.
(Animal Science: Reproduction and Nutrition, 1994)
Importance of ashes
The amount of ash represents the total content of minerals in the
foods. The determination of ash content can be important
for various reasons:
They are part of the upcoming analysis for nutritional assessment. The
ashes are the first step in the preparation of a food sample
for specific elemental analysis.
The determination of ash content serves to obtain the purity of
some ingredients that are used in the preparation of such foods
such as: sugar, pectins, starches, and gelatin.
The ash content is used as a quality index in some
foods like jams and jellies. In these products, the content of
ashes is indicative of the fruit content in them: therefore, it
they consider it as an index of adulteration, contamination, or fraud.
It is important in cereal products because it reveals the type of
refining and milling. For example, whole wheat flour (the entire grain)
contains approximately 2% ash; while the flour
derived from the endosperm has an ash content of 0.3%.
This means that most of the ashes are in the shells. It can be
expect a constant ash content in animal products, but from
another source like plants, this can be variable.
It is used as a quality index in vinegar. There are standards regarding this.
some products not only because the ash content is established
total without mentioning, the % of that ash soluble in water, in acid and also
the alkalinity it presents.
The ashes contain inorganic elements, many of which are
of nutritional interest such as calcium, phosphorus, etc.
When a food product has a high ash content, it
suggests the presence of some inorganic adulterant.
The most common method for determining ash is muffle furnace calcination at
temperatures between 500 and 600°C. To determine ashes in sugar, it has been
recommended methods based on electrical conductivity (wet method).
The ash content in meats ranges from 0.8 - 2% on a wet basis.
In fruits y vegetables is understood between 2 - 12%
The mineral elements in food are found in combinations.
organic and inorganic. Inorganic salts, such as: phosphate, carbonate,
chloride, sulfate, sodium nitrite, potassium, calcium, are common. They can also
present salts of organic acids: malic, oxalic, acetic,
peptic, etc., On the other hand, certain mineral elements can be found
forming complexes of organic molecules. Sometimes in the determination of
It is advisable to mix the product with sand, for example, milk.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nutrition of Ruminants
AlPA RISPAL. First edition, 1990.
2. Guerrero Mena, Y.; Delgado Pertíñez, M. Foundations of animal production.
Seville, Spain. University of Seville. First edition, 2003.
Carlos Buxadé Carbo
Mundi-Prensa Editorial, 1994.
4. [Link]
