CEN/TC 338/WG 6 - Besatz

This European Standard specifies the term Besatz (impurities) and the method for the determination of its components. The term Besatz is used as a parameter for certain quality aspects in maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.).
This method has been validated in an interlaboratory study via the analysis of samples containing natural amount of impurities, ranging from:
-   0,0 % to 2,7 % for broken grains;
-   0,2 % to 3,5 % for grains impurities;
-   0,5 % to 3,3 % for miscellaneous impurities;
-   1,8 % to 8,7 % for total impurities.
For further information on the validation, see Annex D.

The term "Besatz" applies to all components of a grain sample that differ from the normal basic cereal. It includes the following groups: broken grains, shrivelled grains, other cereals, grains damaged by pests, grains with discoloured germ, grains overheated during drying, sprouted grains, extraneous seeds, unsound grains, ergot, bunted grains, extraneous matter, husks and impurities of animal origin. The amount of Besatz and its constituent groups is important for health, cleaning, milling and further processing aspects. For these reasons Besatz is a component of contracts in grain trade and also of the grain intervention system of EU. The principle of the determination of Besatz is to separate all the groups of Besatz from the normal basic cereal grains of unimpaired quality by sieving and manual selection out of a subsample and to quantify them. There are various problems in the determination of Besatz: Firstly, the identification of the different groups of Besatz depends strongly on the experience and the knowledge of the investigator. Also experienced investigators can differ in their characterization of grains. Finally, one is faced with the fact that grain, even after mixing, is rarely homogenous. In other words, if a sample was divided by a sample divider into a number of portions, the amount of a specific group of Besatz in each portion could be different, even if absolutely no human or machine error occurred in each determination. These problems will result in variation of the results of the determination.
An international interlaboratory trial for the determination of Besatz in common wheat, durum wheat and rye was accomplished with 15 laboratories in order to get information on the intra- and interlaboratory variability of the determination of Besatz.
The Technical Report here describes the preparation and evaluation of the results of this interlaboratory test.