Silliker, an international provider of food testing and consulting services, announced a licensing agreement with Kraft Foods for a patent pending in vitro method for predicting the Glycemic Index (GI) of foods.

Kraft recognized the need to quickly predict the GI of foods in the R&D process and developed the method. While the method does not eliminate the need for in vivo Glycemic Index testing, it serves as a valuable screening tool for new product formulations. The method, which includes chemical characterization of the food as well as the use of a sophisticated statistical model, produces results that are very tightly correlated with in vivo measures of GI.

Initially under the licensing agreement, Silliker will exclusively offer this method in North America at its Chicago Heights, Ill., laboratory. At a future date, the offering may be expanded to include Silliker chemistry operations in Europe and Australia.

Silliker

Homewood, Ill.