Development of Process for Analyzing Anthocyanin Contents in Bilberries

Abstract

This thesis was conducted as a part of the Industry Nordic project, which aims at increasing the use of non wood forest products (NWFP) and especially developing the Nordic berry business. The company Marja Bothnia Berries Oy Ltd. obtained a new UV Vis spectrophotometer for analysis of anthocyanin contents in the bilberries it sells, and wished to have a method developed for this. A method for analyzing anthocyanin contents was developed based on previous literature and on methods used by the customers of the company. The results obtained with the newly obtained UV Vis spectrophotometer were compared to analysis results from another UV Vis spectrophotometer and from HPLC analysis conducted by Centria University of Applied Sciences. This thesis is divided into a theoretical part and a practical part. In the theoretical part, a literature review on UV-Vis spectrophotometry and HPLC was done to better understand these methods for analyzing anthocyanin contents. In the practical part the process and the results are described and discussed. The results show lower anthocyanin contents in bilberries compared to previous literature for analysis conducted using both UV Vis spectrophotometry and HPLC. Anthocyanin contents measured using UV Vis spectrophotometry were higher compared to results using HPLC.