General Subject 1,  Raw Sugar – Referee: Andrew Harrison                             

1. Work should proceed on collaborative testing a method for the analysis of fine grain, MA and CV in raw sugar. This could include collaborative testing of the Tentative ICUMSA method GS1- 20 or another method.

2. Modify the Insoluble Matter method for White Sugar (ICUMSA GS2/3/9-19) to accommodate the analysis of raw sugar and collaboratively test the modified method for raw sugar.

3. Collaboratively test the Lane & Eynon Method (ICUMSA GS1/3/7-3) for the determination of Reducing Sugars in raw sugar.

 

General Subject 2,  White Sugar  –  Referee: K. E. Pardoe (UK)                       

1. Complete collaborative study of the analysis of As, Cd, Cu, Fe and Pb in white sugar and report results to participants and Associate Referees. If results are appropriate and agreement on the protocols for sample preparation and analysis can be agreed upon, a method will be written for publishing in the next ICUMSA methods handbook update.

2.  Collaboratively test the use of 5 and 10 cm path length cells for turbidity measurement of white sugar containing measurable turbidity using GS2/3-18.  A NTU (nephelometric turbidity unit) calibration procedure should be included to minimise possible instrument effects.

3. Collaboratively test the methods proposed by J Jensen (Nordic Sugar) and M McKee (SPRI) alongside the current ICUMSA methods for Acid Beverage Floc (GS2/3-40 Parts A and B) for a range of Floc potential for both cane and beet white sugar.

 

General Subject 3,      Specialty Sugars                    

No report, no Recommendations.

 

General Subject 4, Molasses – Referee: Gillian Eggleston                                

1. Continue studies on the Draft Method 8 “The Determination of Apparent Total Sucrose from Sucrose, Glucose, and Fructose in Molasses by an Enzymatic Method.” Improve the stability and shelf-life of the enzymes.

2. Develop and evaluate a non lead acetate method to replace ICUMSA Method GS4/7-1: “The Determination of Apparent Sucrose in Molasses by a Double Polarisation Method” using either aluminium chloride, a commercially available clarification solution, e.g., OctopolTM, Carrez solution, or NIR polarimetry with a filtration aid and filtration. If necessary, two methods may be required for both cane and beet molasses, respectively. Once a method or methods have been developed they should be collaborative studied using an ICUMSA international ring test.

 

General Subject 5, Cane                          

No Report, no Recommendations

 

General Subject 6, Beet – Referee: Dirk Martin                           

Methods for further parameters suitable to describe the quality of sugar beets, such as invert sugar, should be investigated. The applicability of these methods in routine laboratories should be evaluated

 

General Subject 7, Cane Sugar Processing – Referee:  Laurent Corcodel                     

1. Draft Method 3. Determination of starch in cane and beet products (VSI method) is proposed to remove this method from the method book.

2. ICUMSA Method GS 5/7-1 (1994) The Determination of Pol (Polarisation), Brix and Fibre in Cane and Bagasse by the Wet Disintegrator Method – Official should be renamed “The Determination of Pol (Polarisation), Brix and Fibre in Cane and Bagasse by the Wet Disintegrator Method with lead subacetate” –Official

3. Draft Method No. 10 should be modified for part 8.3: equation proposed to convert PolAl–589 to PolLd–589 should be deleted.

4. Draft Method No. 10 should conducted to a new method: GS5/7-28 (2010) “The Determination of Pol (Polarisation), Brix and Fibre in Cane and Bagasse by the Wet Disintegrator Method with Aluminium Chloride” – Tentative

5. A new method should be created: GS5/7-29 (2010) “The Determination of Pol (Polarisation), Brix and Fibre in Cane and Bagasse by the Wet Disintegrator Method with pressure filtration and near infra red polarimeter” –Tentative

6. ICUMSA Method GS 7-7 (1994) The Determination of Pol (Polarisation) of Filter Cake by Polarimetry – Accepted should be renamed “The Determination of Pol (Polarisation) of Filter Cake by Polarimetry with lead subacetate” – Accepted.

7. Draft Method No. 9. Use of non-lead clarificants for high grade products clarification with a NIR polarimeter should be renamed “The determination of Pol (polarisation) and brix for sugarcane and factory product with pressure filtration and NIR polarimeter”.

8. Draft method 9 should become GS7-31“The determination of Pol (polarisation) and brix for sugarcane and factory product with pressure filtration and near infra red polarimeter” – Tentative. Collaborative study has to be performed.

 

General Subject 8,  Beet Sugar Processing – Referee: Jean-Marc Huet                                  

1. The Method GS8-12 (2009) “The Determination of Mannitol in Beet Juices, Thin Juices and Syrups by an Enzymatic Method” should be adopted with the status Official.

2. Continue studies on oxalic acid content measurements in thin juices, syrups and thick juices by an enzymatic method.

3. Reconsider status of Method GS1/2/3/9-1: “Polarisation of Raw Sugar – Official” so that it can reach the “Reference” status.

4. Reconsider status of Method GS1/2/3-2: “The Determination of the Polarisation of Raw Sugar without Wet Lead Clarification - Tentative” so that it can reach the “Official” status.

5. Check whether the Method GS4/7-1: “The Determination of Apparent Sucrose in Molasses by a Double Polarisation Method” is still widely in use. If it is the case begin studies for replacing lead acetate by an alternative clarifying agent.

6. Check whether the Method GS 8/4-15 (1994): “The Determination of Raffinose and Kestoses in Beet Processing Samples by a TLC method” is still in use.

7. Check whether the Method GS 8-21 (1994): “The Determination of Dextran, Levan and Araban in Beet Juices and Molasses by a TLC Method” is still in use.

8. Prepare a Tentative method: “The Determination of Dextranase activity by a Simple Titration Method”. Conduct intra-laboratory studies with Subject 6 “Indirect Methods of Analysis”

 

General Subject 9, Plantation White Sugar – Referee: Vasudha Shirish Keskar

1. Draft method “Analysis of copper using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer” should be included in the Methods Book with Tentative status.

2. Editorial changes to Methods GS2/3-17 and GS 2/1/7-33 should be made to accommodate Plantation White Sugar.

 

Subject 1, Constitution and by Laws – Referee: Geoff Parkin                

1. Article III of the Constitution (Membership) should be re-worded as described in this report to reflect the usual frequency of ICUMSA Sessions. The recommended new wording is “The number of votes to which each National Committee is entitled shall be determined according to the following table where one unit corresponds to 100,000 tonnes of produced and imported sugar combined. For this purpose the tonnes of produced and imported sugar combined, shall be the average tonnes of produced and imported sugar combined, for the two years immediately preceding the year in which a session of the Commission is held. Each year covers the time from September 1st to August 31st inclusive”.

2. Clause 3 of Article IV of the Constitution should be re-worded to “The contribution per unit shall be stated in the budget and expressed per unit of produced and imported sugar for each National Committee calculated in accordance with Article III(5). The maximum contribution due from any National Committee shall not exceed that required from a Committee with 12 units”.

3. Clause 4 of Article IV of the Constitution should be re-worded to “If a National Committee does not pay the contribution due according to para. 3 and does not act upon reminders sent by the Treasurer during the time between two sessions it will have no voting power during the session. In cases of valid reasons put forward by the National Committee involved, the Executive Committee may decide whether this rule should be applied or not. (Addition of 1986 (Proc. 19th Session, p. 2))

Following repeated non-payment of its contribution, the Executive Committee may withdraw the affiliation of that National Committee”.

4. Article VIII of the By-Laws should be re-written as follows, “The validation of analytical methods should be done by collaborative studies according to an internationally recommended protocol, where possible. Other protocols such as Single Laboratory Validation of Methods of Analysis may be used when the study uses, for example, labile samples. Such protocols will be agreed by the plenary Session before being used in collaborative studies.

5. To include in the Articles of ICUMSA a change to reflect that in future the Officers (President, General Secretary and Treasurer) will serve a Fixed Term of 4 years. However there is no limit to how many terms an Officer can serve.

 

Subject 2, Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides – Referee: Maciej Wojtczak           

2. The Draft methods for the determination of starch (Draft No 3 and Draft No 4) should be withdrawn from Method Book.

3. Methods GS1-16 and GS1-17 should be tested together in one collaborative test to compare them and to decide whether GS1-17 could be Official. (Comment by A. Harrison: Precision data for GS1-16 are published already, precision data for GS1-17 should be reported independently. Anyhow both methods should be tested in parallel in order to detect a potential bias.)

4. Method for determination of mannitol in beet brei (Draft No 1) should be extended to beet juices (beet processing by-products) and to determination of glucose, fructose, sucrose and raffinose (as given in Appendix 1 of this Report) and it should be included into the Methods Book with the status of a Tentative method in GS8. The method description shall be amended by a sample treatment procedure for molasses in order to remove interfering amino acids 

Subject 3, Method Format, Collaborative Testing and Statistical Treatment of Data                                   

No Report, No Recommendations

 

Subject 4, Density, Optical Rotation and Refractive Index

No Report, No Recommendations

 

Subject 5, Dry Substance

No Report, No Recommendations

 

Subject 6, Indirect Methods of Analysis

No Report, No Recommendations

 

Subject 7, Colour, Turbidity and Reflectance Measurement – Referee: Christiane Lakenbrink

1. It is recommended to integrate the use of ceramic tiles as secondary standards in ICUMSA method GS2-13 with the calibration values calculated from the reflectance ratios R495/R620 measured with the Zeiss Elrepho by Nordzucker using following equation:

Colour-typeceramic tiles= -38.31 • R(495)/R(620)ceramic tiles + 37.74

 

Subject 8/9,     Chromatographic Techniques           

No Report, No Recommendations

 

Subject 10,      Enzymatic and Immunological Methods

1. Continue the work to be conducted on enzymatic measurement in other General Subjects.

Subject 12, Microbiology – Referee:  Maritta Jacobs          

1. Method GS2/3-45 (2002) needs to be amended to include Example 2 given in this Report, in Section 8.1 of that Method.

2. ICUMSA Method GS2/3-41 (1998): Determination of the Total Mesophilic Bacterial Count in Refined Sugar Products by the Membrane Filtration Method and ICUMSA MethodGS2/3-43 (1998): Determination of the Total Mesophilic Bacterial Count in Refined Sugar Products by the Pour Plate Method should be combined to give a revised ICUMSA Method GS2/3-41 (2010): Determination of the Total Mesophilic Bacterial Count in Refined Sugar Products by the Pour Plate Method or the Membrane Filter Method.

 

Subject 13,      Reducing Sugars                   

No Report, No Recommendations

 

Subject 14,      Ash

No Report, No Recommendations