Message from the President
After the publication of the Proceedings, the Publication Committee has achieved another important goal. The Supplement 2003 and the reprint of the ICUMSA Methods Book have now been published. Methods which have a well definite draft have been included in the Supplement 2003. Other methods which are still under discussion or need further refining will be published in a new Supplement after the interim meeting planned in Atlanta next year. The Supplement 2003 includes 4 New Methods,19 Revised Methods, 3 Rewritten Methods and 1 Revised Specification and Standard. More details about the content of the Supplement can be found on the ICUMSA website. Both the new Supplement 2003 and the new updated Methods Book 2003 can be purchased from our distributor Bartens (www.bartens.com) who take care of the printing of all ICUMSA publications.
Thanks to the cooperation of Mary An Godshall and the generous support of SPRI, the organization of the next Atlanta’s meeting is going well. We will regularly update our website (www.unife.it/icumsa) so that everybody interested in attending the meeting and/or giving a contribution, can do so by keeping in touch either with the SPRI or our General Secretary Hanjio Puke.
In the last ICUMSA News I pointed out that we still had a vacancy for the Referee of General Subject GS4 – Molasses. The National Committees and Associate Referees of the GS4 have not proposed any name yet. However, the problem is temporarily solved thanks to the availability of Mr. John Dutton (whose is known worldwide to the sugar industry). The complete list of Referees of the various Subjects is shown in the Table and further details can be found on our website.
I would like to emphasize that National Committees should find the suitable human resources to assist throughout the Session. I realize that the work of these volunteers may be considered a waste to some companies but we have to bear in mind that it is only thanks to the cooperation of these persons that we can benefit from new analytical methods for various products in our industry.
National Committees should not only provide their quota of suitable Referees and Associate Referees, they should support the work of ICUMSA by providing time and resources to those people chosen so that, in the future, we avoid having only obsolete and out of date analytical methods.
Progress in General Subject 2
Since the Pune session work has concentrated on progressing the recommendations contained in the GS2 report. In particular a collaborative study is underway in conjunction with the Referees of GS3 and S7, examining the performance of the four different solution colour methods contained in the Methods Book (GS2/3-9, GS2/3-10, GS1/3-7 and GS1-8). Twenty-one different samples of sugar were obtained for the study and I am very grateful to everyone who sent them. Eighteen of the samples received are in the 0 to 600 I.U. range with three samples having a higher value than this. These have been distributed to the twelve participants together with the method details. So far results have been returned from seven of the participants. It is intended to complete the study in order to report the findings to the meeting in Atlanta next April.
Further collaborative testing of Method GS2/3-19 is also planned (GS2 rec. 1) at some stage with the modifications proposed by the German National Committee and with membrane filters specified by the Danish National Committee.
GS2 recommendation 3 indicated the need for a rapid test for the Determination of Acid Beverage Floc in Cane White Sugar. If anyone has any details of such a method, I would be grateful to receive them.
GS2 recommendation 4 called for a modern instrumental method for the Determination of Arsenic, Iron and Copper to be collaboratively tested. If you routinely use such a method and would wish it to become Official, then I would be pleased to consider it.
G. Parkin
Referee, General Subject 2
ICUMSA GENERAL SUBJECT 4: MOLASSES
JOHN DUTTON (UK)
I took up this Refereeship in September 2003, after it had remained vacant following the retirement of Don Mackintosh.
From the ICUMSA website, I found 19 Associate Referees listed. I wrote to them in October and again in November 2003 suggesting proposed work, but have received only 11 replies.
I have proposed the setting up, together with Dr. V. Keskar, Referee for “Reducing Sugars”, of collaborative tests of the Official Lane and Eynon and Luff-Schoorl methods GS4/3-3, GS4-5, GS4/3-7 and GS4/3-9. The aim is to complete such testing by 2006. This covers Don Mackintosh’s 2002 Recommendations 1,2 and 3.
As to Don’s 2002 Recommendation 4 (alternative clarification agent to lead acetate),
so far only Associate Referee Maureen Wilson (Jamaica) has said she is dealing with this, by studying clarification with Octapol. This can only be a preliminary study unless more analysts come forward.
Regarding Don’s Recommendation 5(method for mineral hydrocarbons in molasses),
Associate Referee Hoebregs has offered to report back on a potential solvent extraction/capillary GC method. Should he succeed in developing his method, it will be subjected to a collaborative study.
J V Dutton
Referee, General Subject 4
| General Subjects | Referee |
| GS1 Raw Sugar | Dr. L.A. Edye (Australia) |
| GS2 White Sugar | Mr. G. Parkin (United Kingdom) |
| GS3 Specialty Sugars | Dr. N. Bourne (United Kingdom) |
| GS4 Molasses | Mr. J.V. Dutton (United Kingdom) |
| GS5 Cane | Mrs V. Sens (France) |
| GS6 Beet | Prof. M. Kunz (Germany) |
| GS7 Cane Sugar Processing | Mr. M.B. Londhe (India) |
| GS8 Beet Sugar Processing | Mr. J-P. Lescure (France) |
| GS9 Sweeteners Other than Sucrose | Dr. ir. J. M. de Bruijn (The Netherlands) |
| Subjects | |
| S1 Constitution and By-Laws | Prof. G. Vaccari (Italy) |
| S2 Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides | Dr. K. Thielecke (Germany) |
| S3 Method Format, Collaborative Testing | |
| and Statistical Treatment of Data | Mrs. M. A. Godshall (USA) |
| S4 Density, Optical Rotation and Refractive | |
| Index | Dipl.-Psych. M. Kuchejda (Germany) |
| S5 Dry Substance | Prof. R.B. Nigam (India) |
| S6 Indirect methods of Analysis | Mrs. J. Leblebici (Turkey) |
| S7 Colour, Turbidity and Reflectance | |
| Measurement | Dr. C. Lakenbrink (Germany) |
| S8/9 Chromatographic Techniques | Dr. K. J. Schäffler (South Africa) |
| S10 Enzymatic and Immunological Methods | Dr. P. Debeire (France) |
| S12 Microbiology | Dr. E. Stoppok (Germany) |
| S13 Reducing Sugars | Dr. (Mrs.) V.S. Keskar (India) |
| S14 Ash | Mr. J. P. Ducatillon (France) |