Analysis of Plant-Based Beverages: Key Parameters for Quality and Process Control

Plant-based beverages constitute an extremely diverse category. Products made from oats, rice, soy, almonds, cashews, coconut, or hazelnuts can differ significantly in terms of composition, protein, carbohydrate, and fat content, rheological behavior, and long-term stability.

These differences do not only affect the nutritional or sensory profile but also have direct consequences for the production process and quality control requirements. Raw materials, formulation, and processing technologies therefore pose different challenges:

• Soy and rice: These have very different compositional characteristics and require careful control of the formulation. In rice beverages, in particular, starch conversion and the resulting sugar profile are important aspects both from a technological standpoint and for the characteristics of the final product.
• Oats: One of the key steps in the production process is the enzymatic hydrolysis of starch. Its conversion into simpler carbohydrates directly influences parameters such as the beverage’s sweetness, viscosity, and texture.
• Almonds: Extraction produces a complex matrix consisting of an aqueous phase in which lipids, proteins, and solid particles are dispersed. Formulation and homogenization must therefore be carefully managed to minimize separation during storage.
• Cashews: Here too, the formulation must ensure the proper balance between the aqueous phase and the solids present, in order to achieve consistent sensory and structural characteristics.
• Coconut and hazelnut: The lipid component plays a particularly important role. Emulsion stability and product uniformity over time are therefore factors that must be monitored during formulation and production.

The diversity among these matrices makes it difficult to apply a single analytical framework to the entire category. Even within the same type of beverage, variations between batches may occur due to raw material characteristics, processing conditions, or formulation.

To promote the stability of these complex colloidal suspensions and limit the sedimentation of added micronutrients, such as calcium salts, rheological additives and stabilizers - such as sunflower lecithin or gellan gum - can be used.

In the plant-based beverage sector, quality control involves more than just testing the finished product. Having access to analytical data during production allows companies to monitor the progress of the process, compare different batches, and identify any deviations from expected values more quickly.

When results must support operational decisions, the time required to obtain the data also becomes important. Relying exclusively on an external laboratory may be sufficient for certain tests, but it does not always allow for the rapid response required by production activities.

Constantly monitoring chemical parameters meets specific technological needs:

• Early detection of potential microbiological spoilage: parameters such as acetic acid and lactic acid can be used as indicators of how the product evolves during production and storage. Abnormal deviations from expected values may indicate undesirable fermentation or potential microbiological spoilage, allowing further investigation before subsequent processing stages. This can help prevent batches showing abnormal values from proceeding to bottling or pasteurization.
• Fortification and Homogeneity Control: In fortified formulations, quality control must address the physical challenge of sedimentation. Added micronutrients, particularly calcium salts, tend to precipitate and separate from the liquid phase, compromising the nutritional homogeneity of the batch and making it more difficult to ensure compliance with the nutritional values declared on the label.

CDR DrinkLab^® was developed to simplify the analytical testing of beverages and enable numerous analyses to be performed directly at the production facility.

The system’s features make it easier to integrate chemical analysis into quality control activities:

• Ease of use: Pre-filled reagents and guided procedures reduce manual tasks and allow for the performance of analyses without the need to set up a traditional chemistry lab. Analyses can also be performed by appropriately trained production staff.
• Rapid results: Short analysis times allow data to be available quickly and used to verify the product or monitor specific process steps without waiting for the delays typically associated with sending samples to an external laboratory.
• Reduced analytical complexity: The use of ready-to-use reagents and dedicated procedures reduces the need for manual handling, complex sample pretreatments, toxic solvents, and equipment typical of conventional methods.

This operational simplification does not compromise analytical performance: the methods are designed to ensure precision and repeatability, with results consistent with those obtained using reference systems.

In the case of plant-based beverages, this capability is of particular interest precisely because of the heterogeneity of the matrices. Having rapid access to data on various parameters allows analytical control to be tailored to the specific formulation and production stage in question.

Given the variety of formulations, it is important to identify, for each matrix and process, the analytical parameters that are truly useful for quality control. With CDR DrinkLab^®, it is possible to determine certain parameters that are particularly significant for plant-based beverages, quickly obtaining information on the formulation, the progress of specific production stages, and potential variations in the product.

Sugars

Sugar content can depend on both the characteristics of the raw material and the processing methods used.

In cereal-based beverages, some of the simple sugars may result from the enzymatic breakdown of starch; in other formulations, however, added sugars may be present to achieve the desired sensory profile.

Determining sugar content therefore allows for monitoring the consistency of the formulation and, in oat- or rice-based beverages, provides information that complements that obtained from starch analysis.

Lactic Acid (D+L)

In an unfermented plant-based beverage, an abnormal variation in lactic acid concentration may indicate an issue requiring further investigation.

Measuring it can help identify potential unwanted fermentation occurring during certain stages of production or storage.

The rapid availability of the result allows the quality manager to compare the measured value with the specifications or with the values typically observed for that specific formulation and, when necessary, to conduct further investigations.

Acetic acid

In addition to lactic acid, acetic acid can also be used as a control parameter to highlight undesirable changes in the product.

Its formation may be associated with microbial activity under certain conditions and may be accompanied by changes in the sensory profile, such as an increase in perceived acidity or the appearance of abnormal aromatic notes.

The determination of acetic acid can therefore complement the other controls used to monitor the product during production and storage.

Ammonia

In plant-based matrices, the presence of ammonia may be associated with the deamination of amino acids and changes in the protein component caused by endogenous enzymes or contaminating microorganisms.

With CDR DrinkLab^®, the analysis can be performed in just 8 minutes, fraction and identifying potential degradation phenomena and identifying any degradation throughout processing, from extraction through storage.

Starch

Starch is a parameter of particular interest in cereal-based beverages, such as oat and rice drinks.

During the production process, enzymatic hydrolysis progressively converts starch into simpler carbohydrates. The progression of this transformation directly influences characteristics such as viscosity, sweetness, and consistency of the beverage.

Starch analysis allows for monitoring the progress of hydrolysis and detecting any residual starch. When considered alongside sugar analysis, it can therefore provide useful information for controlling the process and maintaining more consistent product characteristics across different batches.

Calcium

Calcium fortification is common in plant-based beverages to improve their nutritional profile and provide a calcium content comparable to that of reference products.

Monitoring calcium concentration allows for verification of proper product fortification and is also of particular interest from the perspective of homogeneity. Calcium salts can, in fact, be subject to sedimentation, posing a risk of uneven distribution of the mineral within the beverage.

Determining calcium concentration can therefore provide useful information for verifying the formulation and homogenization processes and for ensuring the product meets defined specifications.

The following table summarizes the role of the various analytical parameters and the main situations in which their determination can support quality and process control.

The variety of plant-based beverages requires a quality control approach that takes into account the differences among raw materials, formulations, and production processes.

Starch and sugars can provide useful information in grain-based beverages; lactic acid and acetic acid can help monitor changes in the product and potential spoilage; ammonia can offer additional information in matrices with a higher protein content, while calcium analysis allows for monitoring the fortification of enriched formulations.

In this context, having rapid access to analytical data directly on-site allows for the integration of chemical testing into daily production activities and enables more timely intervention when a parameter deviates from defined specifications.

CDR DrinkLab^® enables these determinations to be performed using dedicated methods and ready-to-use pre-filled reagent vials, transforming analysis from a simple verification of the finished product into an operational tool for quality control and production process monitoring.