🍝 Pasta — organoleptic evaluation before and after cooking, pasta of incorrect length or deformed, presence of pests, PN-A-74130

Food chemistry PN-A-74130

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The “Scope” field of the PKN catalogue card of PN-A-74130:1993, in full (our translation from Polish): “9 definitions concerning the lot, the sample and packaging are specified. Requirements for the equipment and conditions of sampling are specified. The number and size of samples are given. The preparation of the test sample and of the average laboratory sample is specified. The manner of packing and marking the sample is described. 9 kinds of tests are discussed (checking the quality of packaging, checking dimensions and shape, organoleptic tests, determination of moisture, determination of ash content, determination of fat content by the refractometric method, checking the presence of impurities and pests, determination of heavy metal content, microbiological tests)”. The card gives only the Polish title; the English title in the header of this entry is our translation.

STATUS (PKN card as of 06.11.2026). The card “PN-A-74130:1993 - Polish version” carries the label “Withdrawn” and the line “Withdrawal date: 21-09-2015”. The card has no “Replaced by” field — the catalogue names no successor. “Replaces: PN-A-74130:1968 - Polish version”. Edition: published 28-06-1993, 7 pages, Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sector, technical body KT 36 Cereals and Cereal Products, ICS 67.060. Withdrawal does not change the content of the standard; the card does not say which document to test by instead. The list of withdrawn standards used by the laboratory GBA Polska (update of 11.02.2026) places PN-A-74130:1993 in the part “Standards withdrawn by PKN without replacement” — in line with the card.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database refreshed from the production server on 02.11.2026, read on 06.11.2026; current PCA documents, read on 06.11.2026). All notations of the number 74130 in the reference document field (no digit may stand directly before or after the number): 8 entries at 8 Polish laboratories — AB 381, AB 515, AB 521, AB 532, AB 635, AB 705, AB 1334 and AB 1473; there are no Czech laboratories with this number in the copy. Notations: “PN-A-74130:1993” — 4 entries (AB 515, AB 635, AB 1334, AB 1473), “PN-93/A-74130” — 3 entries (AB 381, AB 521, AB 705) and “PN-93-A-74130” — 1 entry (AB 532). The “Laboratories” tab (“PN-A-74130”) gives 7 laboratories and 7 entries on the same copy: it does not recognise the notation “PN-93-A-74130” with a hyphen in place of the slash, so it does not show AB 532. In the current PCA scope documents of these 8 laboratories the number occurs 8 times in total — as many as in the copy, AB 532 also in the form “PN-93-A-74130”; none of these entries is marked as suspended.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (database copy and PCA documents, complete entries). Organoleptic evaluation of pasta before and after cooking: appearance, colour and odour before cooking, odour, taste and appearance after cooking — simple descriptive test (AB 532); before preparation appearance, colour, odour, after preparation appearance, colour, consistency, odour, taste — simple descriptive test (AB 1473); colour, appearance, odour before and after cooking, taste after cooking — descriptive method, point 3.4 (AB 521); appearance and odour of uncooked pasta, appearance, odour and taste of cooked pasta and minimum cooking time — simple descriptive test (AB 1334). Content of pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta — gravimetric method, (0,2–30,0) %, p. 3.3.2 (AB 705). Presence of pests and their residues by the visual method: pasta, “excluding point 3.8.2” (AB 515); cereal products and pasta — biological contaminants, including pests, p. 3.8, together with PN-A-74016:1974 (AB 635); cereals and cereal products — cereal-flour pests and their residues, point 3.8.1 (AB 381).

CLAUSES OF THE STANDARD IN THE SCOPES. We know the clause numbers only from accreditation scopes, not from the text of the standard: p. 3.3.2 — pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta (AB 705), point 3.4 — organoleptic evaluation (AB 521), p. 3.8 and point 3.8.1 — pests and their residues (AB 635, AB 381); AB 515 excludes point 3.8.2, whose content WE HAVE NOT ESTABLISHED. The remaining 3 entries (AB 532, AB 1334, AB 1473 — all organoleptic) cite the standard without a clause. The order of the tests in the “Scope” field of the card (dimensions and shape — second, organoleptic tests — third, impurities and pests — seventh) agrees with these numbers if the tests were numbered from 3.2; we have not seen the numbering of the standard, so this is only an agreement, not a finding.

WHAT LABORATORIES DO NOT TAKE FROM IT. Of the 9 kinds of tests listed on the card, the following do not appear next to this standard in accreditation scopes: checking the quality of packaging, moisture, ash, fat by the refractometric method, heavy metals and microbiological tests. Sampling does not appear next to it either, although the card says that the standard specifies the equipment, conditions, number and size of samples.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. First — sampling: according to the card the standard gives the number and size of samples and the preparation of the average laboratory sample, but no scope entry lists sampling as an accredited activity; the result concerns the sample delivered to the laboratory, and WE DO NOT GIVE the number and size of samples — we did not have the text of the standard. Second — measurement: the evaluation after cooking requires cooking the pasta under specified conditions, and one laboratory explicitly lists “minimum cooking time” (AB 1334); WE DO NOT GIVE the cooking conditions. The share of pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta depends on what is regarded as the correct length — this is not in the scopes. Third — calculation: the laboratory reports the share of pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta in per cent, i.e. relative to the mass of the sample; WE DO NOT GIVE the sample size. Fourth — test object and document: AB 381 cites point 3.8.1 of this standard for cereals and cereal products, and AB 635 combines it with PN-A-74016:1974 for cereal products and pasta; a test report that does not assign the standard to the product does not say which one was used.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN makes it available for a fee (7 pages), and we found no preview online. We do not give the 9 definitions of the standard, the equipment, the number and size of samples, the cooking conditions, the attributes and scale of the organoleptic evaluation, the criteria of length and deformation, the manner of detecting pests or the content of point 3.8.2. PN-A-74016:1974, cited together with this standard by AB 635, is according to its PKN card withdrawn on 21-07-2016 without a successor being named (read on 06.11.2026). We did not check references to the standard in legislation.

Method principle

According to the card of the standard: samples are taken from a lot of pasta in the number and size given in the standard, with the equipment and under the conditions it specifies, the test sample and the average laboratory sample are prepared, packed and marked, and then tests from the list of 9 kinds are carried out: quality of packaging, dimensions and shape, organoleptic tests, moisture, ash, fat by the refractometric method, impurities and pests, heavy metals, microbiological tests. In accreditation scopes only three of them stand next to this standard: organoleptic evaluation (simple descriptive test or descriptive method), pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta (gravimetric method) and pests (visual method). WE DO NOT GIVE the course of the tests — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Pasta — organoleptic evaluation before and after cooking (appearance, colour, odour, taste, consistency), simple descriptive test or descriptive method (point 3.4 in the scope of AB 521)
• Minimum cooking time — in the scope of AB 1334 as part of the simple descriptive test
• Content of pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta — gravimetric method (p. 3.3.2 in the scope of AB 705)
• Presence of pests and their residues — visual method (p. 3.8 and point 3.8.1 in the scopes); at AB 381 also for cereals and cereal products

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-A-74130:1993

Title (PL)

Makaron — Pobieranie próbek i metody badań

Title (EN)

Pasta — Sampling and test methods

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: the standard was withdrawn on 21-09-2015, without a “Replaced by” field (state of the card on 06.11.2026).

2. Sampling and sample preparation

   According to the card the standard specifies the sampling equipment and conditions, the number and size of samples, the preparation of the test sample and of the average laboratory sample, and the packing and marking of the sample; no accreditation scope entry lists sampling as an accredited activity. WE DO NOT GIVE the number and size of samples.

3. Organoleptic evaluation

   Before cooking: appearance, colour, odour; after cooking: appearance, colour, consistency, odour, taste; at AB 1334 also minimum cooking time (point 3.4 in the scope of AB 521). WE DO NOT GIVE the cooking conditions and the scale.

4. Pasta of incorrect length or deformed pasta

   Gravimetric method, result in % (p. 3.3.2 in the scope of AB 705). WE DO NOT GIVE the criteria.

5. Pests and their residues

   Visual method (p. 3.8 and point 3.8.1 in the scopes), result: presence or absence.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• We do not describe hazards and precautions — we did not have the text of the standard, and the card does not list them
• TECHNICAL NOTE: evaluations after cooking from two laboratories can be compared only under the same cooking conditions — we do not give these conditions

Frequently asked questions