The Falling Number is still the standard method, but we have made it better.
"Millers and bakers are greatly interested in reliable methods for the determination of the amylase activity in flour, in order that the amylase activity might be adjusted to a desired level." With these words Mr Harald Perten started his presentation of the Falling Number method at the AACC annual meeting in Minneapolis April 1963. In the end of the 1950s, Mr Harald Perten worked in the Cereal Laboratory of the Swedish Institute for the Crafts and Industries together with Mr Sven Hagberg evaluating means to facilitate the detection of high alpha-amylase activity in grain and flour resulting from sprout damage. The solution they arrived at was the Falling Number method, and ever since the very early 1960s, the Falling Number method has given the grain and flour industry crucial information on sprout damage and alpha-amylase activity.
Soon after the development of the method and the instrumentation, the method was standardized by ICC, AACCI, ISO and other standardization bodies. The method was then spread internationally and accepted in the grain trade and flour industry. Today the method is a worldwide user standard and basically all wheat traded and all flour produced has a Falling Number specification on it.
As most industries, the grain and flour industry is constantly looking for faster and simpler tests. Perten Instruments has a never ending strive to serve our customers with innovative and easy to use tools. Perten now launches the new Falling Number® 1000 instrument which brings valuable improvements for the user, still strictly following the standard methods.
Using modern development tools like 3D-printers connected to the CAD system we have had great opportunities to test and verify different alternatives before final design has been set in the new instrument. This has also had the positive effect that the time going from prototype to final production was brought down to a minimum.
FN 1000 - Faster, Safer and Easier to use
The FN 1000 instrument is an automatic dual sample instrument designed for simple operation. The instrument includes automatic bath water level control, auto-start and an operator controlled option to set a stop time for the FN test. All these features help to speed up the through-put of samples in the instrument. If the operator set a stop time to the test, the instrument stops the test, pushes down the stirrers and reports the value – e.g. "300+" or the actual result if below the set stop time.
With the isolated water bath and cooling lid and with reduced boiling steam right at the stop of the test, the instrument is safe to touch and operate. The water bath and the cooling lid has remained its geometries from previous models, and the stirrers and the viscometer tubes are according to the validated approved standard, same as for all Perten Falling Number instruments.
The new instrument also includes barometric pressure sensing for altitude correction alert, results averaging, a modern touch screen interface, and improved LIMs integration for traceability and data management. For operations using fungal enzyme addition to the flour the instrument has the Fungal Falling Number method included.
Go to the FN 1000 product page to learn more.
Perten Falling Number – the only validated instrument for the Approved Methods.