NIST Peanut Butter

Region

United States

Associated With

National Institute of Standards and Technology - Developer and issuer

Defining Feature

Creamy peanut butter with assigned measurement values for laboratory validation

Status

Unknown - current availability not established

Overview

NIST’s SRM 2387 Peanut Butter turned a familiar food into a reference material for checking laboratory methods.

Issued in 2003, the creamy peanut butter was prepared for the US National Institute of Standards and Technology during a larger production run. Measurements by NIST and collaborating laboratories established values for nutrients and aflatoxins, helping laboratories validate tests for peanut butter and foods of similar composition.

Its original certificate was dated 14 March 2003. A reference value for acrylamide was added in September 2004. Later revisions changed or removed some assigned values, reflecting continuing assessment of the material and its measurements.

Why It Mattered

Food-testing methods need checks using materials that resemble the foods being analysed. This peanut butter filled a gap in NIST’s reference collection, extending coverage across all nine sectors of a classification based on fat, protein and carbohydrate content. A familiar spread thus helped laboratories assess whether their methods could produce reliable results for similar foods.

Designed for Measurement

• The creamy peanut butter was prepared for NIST during a larger commercial production run.
• Its intended use was validating analytical methods for nutrients, fatty acids, vitamins, elements, amino acids and aflatoxins in peanut butter and similar food matrices.
• The certificate distinguishes certified mass-fraction values from reference values; certified-value uncertainties are expressed at an approximately 95% confidence level.

Completing the Food Matrix

• NIST developed SRM 2387 to fill sector 3 of AOAC International’s fat-protein-carbohydrate food-matrix triangle.
• Its release completed NIST reference-material coverage across all nine sectors of that triangle.
• Value assignment combined NIST measurements with collaborating-laboratory data: 13 laboratories joined one comparison exercise, while four measured aflatoxins only.

Certificate Revisions

• The certificate revision history records 14 March 2003 as the original certificate date.
• A reference value for acrylamide was added on 29 September 2004.
• The accessed certificate was issued on 15 January 2020 and states that certification remains valid, subject to its conditions, until 31 December 2029.

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