🍰 Pastry products and semi-finished pastry products — moisture (water, dry matter), fat, sugars and sensory evaluation, PN-A-74252

Food chemistry PN-A-74252

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The “Scope” field of the PKN catalogue card of PN-A-74252:1998, in full (our translation from Polish): “Methods of preparing analytical samples for testing are discussed. A description of methods for determining moisture, acidity, fat content and sugar content is included. The conditions and methods of carrying out sensory tests are discussed”. 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 The card “PN-A-74252:1998 - Polish version” carries the label “Withdrawn” and the line “Withdrawal date: 07-11-2024”. The card has no “Replaced by” or “Replaces” fields — the catalogue names no successor. Edition: published 02-01-1998, 16 pages, Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sector, technical body RS SRZ (Sector Council of the Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sector), 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 The list of withdrawn standards used by the laboratory GBA Polska (update of 11.02.2026) places PN-A-74252:1998 in the part “Standards withdrawn by PKN without replacement” — in line with the card.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 74252 in the reference document field (no digit may stand directly before or after the number): 17 entries at 9 Polish laboratories — AB 1179 (5 entries), AB 583 (3), AB 819 (3), AB 313, AB 444, AB 518, AB 521, AB 532 and AB 1334 (1 each); there are no Czech laboratories with this number in the copy. Notations: “PN-A-74252:1998” — 16 entries, 6 of them with a clause number or excluded clauses added; “PN-A-74252” without a year — 1 entry (AB 1179). The “Laboratories” tab (recognition of the standard “PN-A-74252” in the same way as in the search engine) gives the same on the same copy: 9 laboratories, 17 entries. In the current PCA scope documents of these 9 laboratories the number occurs 17 times in total — as many as in the copy; none of these entries is marked as suspended.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (database copy and PCA documents, complete entries). Water and dry matter by the gravimetric method: pastry products and semi-finished pastry products — water content (2,4–31,0) % (m/m), dry matter calculated, point 3.2 (AB 819); confectionery and pastry products — dry matter (35–99) %, water calculated, together with PN-A-88027:1984 (AB 583); pastry products — water content, dry matter calculated, without a numerical range (AB 1179). Fat: by the Weibull-Stoldt extraction-gravimetric method — (6,0–26,0) % (m/m), fat in dry matter calculated, point 3.4.1 (AB 819) and (1,52–33) % in pastry products and salty snacks (AB 1179); “by the gravimetric method” (0,5–60) % in confectionery and pastry products, together with PN-A-88021:1971 (AB 583). Sugars by the titrimetric method: total sugars after inversion by the Luff-Schoorl method (21,0–53,0) % (m/m), point 3.5.2 (AB 819); total sugars (3,0–60,0) %, points 3.5.1 and 3.5.3 (AB 444); total sugars (0,5–85) % (AB 313); “sugar content” (10–72) % (AB 583); reducing sugars and total sugars after inversion by the Luff-Schoorl method — (1,35–99,6) % in confectionery, (1,35–99,6) % in pastry products and salty snacks and (0,38–22,1) % in eggs and egg products, here together with the instruction IB-13 edition 8 of 12.03.2021 (AB 1179). Organoleptic evaluation: by the scoring method — batch uniformity, external appearance, structure and texture, taste and odour, point 4 (AB 518), with a range of (8–20) points (AB 521) and with a range of (1–5) points for biscuits (AB 532); by a simple descriptive test — external appearance (colour, surface, fracture or cross-section), odour, taste, structure and texture, “excluding points 4.4, 4.5” (AB 1334).

CLAUSES OF THE STANDARD IN THE SCOPES. We know the clause numbers only from accreditation scopes, not from the text of the standard: point 3.2 — water content (AB 819), point 3.4.1 — fat by the Weibull-Stoldt method (AB 819), points 3.5.1 and 3.5.3 — total sugars (AB 444), point 3.5.2 — total sugars after inversion by the Luff-Schoorl method (AB 819), point 4 — organoleptic evaluation by the scoring method (AB 518); AB 1334 excludes points 4.4 and 4.5 from the descriptive evaluation. The remaining 11 entries cite the standard without a clause.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. First — sampling and preparation: the card says that the standard discusses the preparation of analytical samples; how — WE DO NOT GIVE, because we did not have the text of the standard, and no scope entry lists sampling as an accredited activity. Second — measurement: different determinations and different variants of the same characteristic stand under one number — “total sugars” (points 3.5.1 and 3.5.3), “total sugars after inversion” (point 3.5.2) and “reducing sugars and total sugars after inversion”; fat after Weibull-Stoldt extraction and fat “by the gravimetric method” cited together with PN-A-88021:1971. A result without the clause of the standard and without the name of the variant does not say what was measured. The scoring evaluation has different ranges at two laboratories — (8–20) points and (1–5) points — so point totals from two test reports must not be compared without the scale. Third — calculation: dry matter and water are calculated from each other — in one entry water is measured and dry matter calculated (AB 819, AB 1179), in another the other way round (AB 583); fat in dry matter (AB 819, “calculated”) requires a fat result and a water or dry matter result — in the scope of AB 819 both measurements are listed under this standard (point 3.4.1 and point 3.2). Fourth — the test object: laboratories also apply the standard to salty snacks and eggs (AB 1179); whether the standard provides for this — WE HAVE NOT ESTABLISHED; this is a reading of the scopes, not of the content of the standard.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN makes it available for a fee (16 pages), and we found no preview online. We do not give the sample preparation, drying conditions, solvents and course of extraction, course of inversion and titration, formulae, scale and weights of the scoring evaluation, the content of points 4.4 and 4.5, or the acidity method (the card mentions it, the scopes do not). We did not read the catalogue cards of the standards cited together with it (PN-A-88027:1984, PN-A-88021:1971) — we do not give their status. We did not check references to the standard in legislation.

Method principle

According to the card of the standard: an analytical sample is prepared from the pastry product or semi-finished pastry product, and then moisture, acidity, fat content and sugar content are determined and sensory tests are carried out under the conditions given in the standard. In accreditation scopes the following methods stand next to this standard: the gravimetric method (water or dry matter), the Weibull-Stoldt extraction-gravimetric method and the “gravimetric method” (fat), the titrimetric method, including Luff-Schoorl after inversion (sugars), and the scoring method and the simple descriptive test (organoleptic evaluation). WE DO NOT GIVE the course of the determinations — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Pastry products and semi-finished pastry products — water or dry matter content by the gravimetric method (point 3.2 in the scope of AB 819)
• Total fat content — Weibull-Stoldt extraction-gravimetric method (point 3.4.1 in the scope of AB 819), at one laboratory the “gravimetric method” together with PN-A-88021:1971
• Total sugars, total sugars after inversion and reducing sugars — titrimetric method, at two laboratories the Luff-Schoorl method
• Organoleptic evaluation — scoring method (point 4 in the scope of AB 518) or simple descriptive test
• In accreditation scopes also confectionery, salty snacks (fat, sugars) and eggs and egg products (sugars, together with the laboratory instruction IB-13)

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-A-74252:1998

Title (PL)

Wyroby i półprodukty ciastkarskie — Metody badań

Title (EN)

Pastry products and semi-finished pastry products — Test methods

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: the standard was withdrawn on 07-11-2024, without a “Replaced by” field (state of the card on 06.11.2026).

2. Preparation of the analytical sample

   Card: the standard discusses methods of preparing analytical samples for testing. Which — WE DO NOT GIVE, we did not have the text of the standard.

3. Indicating the determination and the clause of the standard

   Several determinations and several variants of sugar determination stand under one number. In accreditation scopes 6 of 17 entries give a clause of the standard or excluded clauses (3.2, 3.4.1, 3.5.1 and 3.5.3, 3.5.2, 4; exclusion of 4.4 and 4.5).

4. Physicochemical determinations

   In the scopes: water or dry matter — gravimetric method; fat — Weibull-Stoldt extraction-gravimetric method or the “gravimetric method”; sugars — titrimetric method, also Luff-Schoorl after inversion. WE DO NOT GIVE conditions and formulae.

5. Sensory evaluation

   In the scopes: scoring method (batch uniformity, external appearance, structure and texture, taste and odour) or simple descriptive test. WE DO NOT GIVE the scale and weights; the test report states the scale, because laboratories declare different ones: (8–20) points and (1–5) points.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• We do not describe hazards related to reagents — we do not know their list, because we did not have the text of the standard; the safety data sheets of the reagents used in the laboratory apply
• TECHNICAL NOTE: “total sugars”, “total sugars after inversion” and “reducing sugars” are different results — the test report states the clause of the standard or the name of the variant

Frequently asked questions