Scientific support services
The presence of foreign bodies or undesirable substances in food can be confirmed using chemistry, and three examples of common complaints about food are assessed with the assistance of the students. The presence of a fly in food is shown by testing for phosphatase, urine in lemonade (using lemonade doped with urea) by testing for urea, and rust in bread by testing for iron.
The chemistry of taste is introduced as are the ways that experiments carried out on the synchrotron radiation source contribute to our understanding of taste through the discovery of protein structure.
Some aspects of the role chemistry plays in forensic science are discussed and the presumptive blood test demonstrated. This test is used to determine whether a stain present may be blood. Blood is one of a number of substances that contains a peroxidase which is why the test is only presumptive - it can only rule out substances that are not blood.
