NIST produced SRM 2383 in order to help the food industry meet requirements of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. The Baby Food Composite standard is a blend of the ingredients found in commercially available baby foods, including orange juice, infant formula, corn, creamed spinach, carrots, beef, macaroni and other foods. This blend is designed to represent measurement challenges in food analysis, rather than a typical infant diet. Food manufacturers can use the baby food standard to check the accuracy of their analytical methods and results and to evaluate the accuracy of their own in-house quality control standards. The Baby Food Composite SRM is one of a series of standards being developed to help meet food industry needs.
Consumers also benefit by having more accurate nutritional information.
SRM 2383 is now for sale in NIST's Standard Reference Materials Program. But for the National Institute of Standards and Technology that's just part of the story. Smoke, itself, can obscure visibility and damage human lungs. NIST fire researchers have created a computer-based model to predict the downwind distribution of smoke particulate and combustion products from large outdoor fires. Results can be displayed as downwind, cross wind and vertical smoke concentration contours.