ICUMSA General Guidelines for validating indirect techniques of measurement

At its 2016 session in Warsaw, Poland, ICUMSA approved a set of "General Guidelines for Validating Indirect Measurement Techniques" (click here). The indirect measurement techniques are alternative techniques for measuring sugar properties, which aim to give similar results to the laboratory ICUMSA methods in the ICUMSA Methods Book.
By following the guidelines you may check whether an indirect measurement technique has the same level of performance as the laboratory ICUMSA method used to calibrate it. The guidelines present an approach to be taken to validate the indirect measurement technique in order to ensure a robust outcome.
The example used for testing and establishing the guidelines was the reflectance method of the Neltec ColourQ 2100. Two Neltec ColourQ 2100 instruments were evaluated in the range of 20 to 50 IU against the method "ICUMSA GS2/3-10 (2011) - The Determination of White Sugar Solution Colour, Official" using the guidelines in order to see whether these were sufficiently developed. According to the results of the validations applying the guidelines, it was demonstrated that the two ColourQ instruments gave equivalent results to ICUMSA GS2/3-10 (2011). After a thorough review of the guidelines and the test of the guidelines on the ColourQ instruments, the ICUMSA session decided to approve the guidelines.
According to the guidelines: "A validated calibration cannot be transferred to another instrument, factory or laboratory." Therefore, any validation established using the guidelines cannot be extended to other instruments - these have to be similarly developed following the same protocol. Each new installation must be validated based on laboratory results using the official ICUMSA method.

ICUMSA and specific products/instruments
In order to comply with ICUMSA policy on proprietary methods and equipment, it should be noted that ICUMSA does not endorse or approve specific products. All equipment used for the analysis and characterization of sugar should be properly validated according to accepted protocols.