FDA has standard templates and worksheets, along with an electronic submission form that can be used to pull data related to lab testing. However, within industry not all of these electronic systems speak to each other. During an FDA Town Hall at the Food Labs Conference last week, Palmer Orlandi, Ph.D., acting chief science officer and research director at FDA’s Office of Food and Veterinary Medicine, answers an audience question about the issue and discusses the challenges associated with standardized templates that are used by various federal and state labs and the compatibility issues.
Increased media attention and consumer awareness of verifying ingredients, detecting allergens and effectively tracing the source of outbreaks has placed much higher scrutiny on food processors and manufacturers. With the anticipated FSMA final rule on intention adulteration (Focused Mitigation Strategies to Product Food Against Intentional Adulteration) expected in late spring, having the ability to effectively detect and address product contamination and adulteration will be of significant importance to manufacturers. In preparation for the upcoming Food Labs Conference March 7–8, Food Safety Tech sat down with Craig Schwandt, Ph.D., director of industrial services at McCrone Associates, to learn how contamination is currently affecting food companies and what they should be doing to protect their products and ensure consumer safety.
Craig Schwandt will be presenting “Contaminant Particle Identification: Establishing Provenance and Complying with FSMA” at this year’s Food Labs Conference | March 7–8 | LEARN MOREFood Safety Tech: What are the big issues facing the food industry related to product contamination?
Craig Schwandt: I think the biggest issue facing the food safety industry is realizing that FSMA, in its final ruling, comes with requirements to ensure food safety from farm to table. In the past, many [ingredients] were GRAs, or generally recognized as safe, so when there was a contaminant, [food companies] had a lot of liberty in disposing of the batch and weren’t too concerned about where it came from.
FSMA is going to require that [food companies] keep records of what contaminants are found, how they address it and whether it’s a recurring problem, and [that they] have a procedure in place to track back and [conduct] forensic analysis. In the analytical services industry we call it investigational analysis, which is a description of what actually takes place for ascertaining what the contaminant is and how it got there. That information is provided to clients so they can track back in their production process—all the way to the raw materials and then ascertain where the contaminants came from in that production chain.
The big challenge will be in recognizing that they have to start keeping records and then actually doing the investigation to determine what contaminants are there and determine where they’re coming in.
FST: Are companies taking the right steps to detect and identify contaminants in food?
Schwandt: Some of them do and some don’t. At last year’s Institute of Food Technologist’s conference in Chicago, there was a session on FSMA in which there were representatives from FDA, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and a major food company. I was a little bit shocked by the food company’s position. They felt they didn’t need to take all of the steps required by FSMA because they dealt directly with producers from all over the world. They felt removing intermediaries from their supply chain sufficiently protected their products from adulteration. This seems to be oversimplifying the production and supply chain process. Even though they may directly deal with farmers, there’s still opportunity from the time food stuff is harvested to being dried, placed in containers, and shipped from overseas to the U.S.—there are several steps where unintentional contaminants can arise. So to say they didn’t need to look at the potential for contamination because they dealt directly [with farmers] is a bit oversimplified. I think this perspective typifies some of the industry’s viewpoint at the moment.
The Foreign Supplier Verification Program specifically addresses this concern. Even companies that deal directly with producers and supplies in the country of the product’s origin will be required to demonstrate that they tested it and verified it as uncontaminated.
The understanding and recognition by suppliers of these new regulations is the biggest issue facing the food industry right now—especially now that the final rulings have been issued and we’re in the grace period before compliance with the regulation is required.
FST: What technologies are helping in the effort to fight product adulteration, especially as it relates to FSMA compliance?
Schwandt: Handheld instrumentation is making headway at identifying, at a gross scale, screening capabilities—handheld x-ray fluorescence instrumentation and handheld infrared spectroscopy, to identify things at the bulk level. Mass spectrometry methods and chromatography are exceptional at their ability to do really fast general screening for chemical adulterants. I think many of the food laboratories and food companies have in-house laboratories and screen in that general way.
In terms of some of the solid phase contaminants, I think there’s a lack of in-house capability at the moment where one can use simpler [methods] like optical microscopy and another microscopy-based methods to identify the physical solid phase contaminants.
A good example is the use of magnetometers. Many companies use large-scale process line magnetometers to highlight the presence of metal pieces in their product. A magnetometer tells you that there are metal contaminants in your product, it does not provide a specific alloy identification. Whether one needs to go further to use additional methods and actually ascertain the composition of the alloy, is the question. That’s a new requirement—to identify what it is and then to try and assess where in the process it may have occurred. Using a microscopy-based method is advantageous because metal pieces are easily isolated and identified. Once food industry clients have an idea of what the alloy is, they can compare it to the metal alloys that make up their machinery along the way, whether it’s packaging or sorting machinery, [and] essentially establish where the particles enter into the food process.
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has announced the availability of a GCMS-QP2020 high-sensitivity gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. With custom configurations to meet the demands of food labs, the instrument features a multi-function ion source, high-speed scan control and a large-capacity turbomolecular pump with heightened exhaust efficiency, which improves instrument performance when operated using helium, hydrogen and nitrogen. The mass spectrometer’s ion source technology creates a stable space for ion creation, prevents contamination due to source interactions, and offers the ability to switch ionization modes without venting the system. Users can employ a Quick-CI option that enables the introduction of reagent gas while using the EI source to look for the molecular ion. A smart selected ion monitoring (SIM) functionality enables higher SIM sensitivity. Additional features included upgraded GCMSsolution software for intuitive control of the mass spectrometer. Optional databases have additional retention indices for common columns and support accurate qualitative analysis, quantitative method development and screening studies.
After publishing data from its 2014 Pesticide Data Program (PDP) earlier this week, the USDA has stated that it is not concerned with the level of pesticide chemical residues in the U.S. food supply. More than 99% of products sampled through the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program had residues below EPA tolerances (residues exceeding the tolerance were detected in 0.36% of samples).
“The PDP plays an essential role in ensuring the safety of the U.S. food supply. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the FDA has authority to take enforcement action when a food bears or contains unlawful pesticide chemical residues,” said Susan Mayne, Ph.D., director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in a press release. “By providing an accurate assessment of pesticide levels in the most commonly consumed commodities in America, the PDP generally confirms the U.S. food supply is safe with respect to pesticide chemical residues.”
Among the foods tested were fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, oats, rice, and salmon. The findings from the PDP annual summary can be accessed via the USDA’s website.
As a result of the rising incidence of food contamination and foodborne illness outbreaks such as Listeria, Salmonella and E.coli, the North American market for food safety testing is expected to hit $6.4 billion within the next four years. According to a recent report by Markets and Markets, the 7.4% compound annual growth rate will also be fueled by the following factors:
Actions taken by food manufacturers to implement more testing at different stages of the chain in order to strengthen food safety standards
Increased concern to reduce the amount of product recalls
Increased consumer interest in ingredients and food safety
FSMA and the regulatory effort to reduce the presence of pathogens or contaminants in food
Learn more about how food laboratories are working to detect dangerous pathogens.
Update: (1/14/2016):According to a report released by Research and Markets on January 14, the global food safety testing market can expect to achieve a 7.1% CAGR over the next five years, hitting $16.2 billion by 2020.
Two rapid test kits have been launched for the identification of salmon species: Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka). The tool kits were developed in collaboration with the University of Guelph and allow distributors, food processors and government regulators to positively identify the salmon species in less than two hours.
The test kits are used in conjunction with a portable, real-time PCR system that provides DNA detection. The tools are part of the Instant ID Species product line from InstantLabs, which include seafood identification tests for Atlantic (Salmo salar) and Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch as well as Atlantic Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) and U.S. Catfish (Ictalurus species).
Today DuPont announced that the AOAC Research Institute (AOAC-RI) approved a method extension of Performance Tested Method #100201 to include the company’s BAX System X5 PCR Assay for Salmonella detection. Introduced this past July, the PCR assay provides next-day results for most sample types following a standard enrichment protocol and approximately 3.5 hours of automated processing. The lightweight system is smaller and designed to provide more flexibility in testing.
“Many customers rely on AOAC-RI and other third-party certifications as evidence that a pathogen detection method meets a well-defined set of accuracy and sensitivity requirements,” says Morgan Wallace, DuPont Nutrition & Health senior microbiologist and validations leader for diagnostics, in a company release. “Adopting a test method that has received these certifications allows them to use the method right away, minimizing a laboratory’s requirements for expensive, time-consuming in-house validation procedures before they can begin product testing.”
The validation covers a range of food types, including meat, poultry, dairy, fruits, vegetables, bakery products, pet food and environmental samples.
Listen to a 3-minute interview with industry expert Professor Amadeo R Fernandez-Alba from the EURL Reference Laboratory as he discusses trends in pesticide analysis. View here.
Several different approaches can be used to verify authenticity of food, from a heteroduplex assay to microsatellite analysis. In part II of a presentation by fruit juice and authenticity expert David Hammond, Ph.D. of Eurofins Scientific at the 2015 Food Labs Conference, learn about the DNA methodologies as well as the proactive steps that companies should be taking to prevent food fraud or economically motivated adulteration of product.
In 2009, FDA officially recognized food fraud as an issue. Driving forces behind the problem include seeking an opportunity to make an illicit profit, a lack of premium raw materials, and a lack of supplier awareness. At the 2015 Food Labs Conference, fruit juice and authenticity expert David Hammond, Ph.D. of Eurofins Scientific offered the basics of protecting against the adulteration of fruit juices.
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