McCrone Associates (MA), an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited lab, will be participating in the 2016 Food Safety Consortium. Dr. Kathleen Martin will present “Particulate Contamination in Food–Or, Was that Supposed to be Crunchy?” on December 8 at 11:30 a.m. Dr. Martin will discuss multiple microscopy methods of identifying solid phase contaminants in foods and packaging. Her primary points include understanding the overall analysis process for particulate contaminant identification, an overview of the information provided by selected types of instrumentation, and case study examples showing how this analytical process is applied to real samples.

Visit our exhibit and meet with project scientists to explore what your needs are, especially with regard to preparing for U.S. FDA inspectors who will be checking for compliance with FSMA regulations. MA has extensive experience assisting pharmaceutical industry clients in meeting their regulatory obligations, and has been able to use that understanding to assist clients in the food industry. Forensic investigation is a key component of the work we do, and although forensic analyses are initially more costly than typical bulk analyses, identification of foreign material contamination can alleviate safety concerns and identify the root cause of your problem, saving you a lot more in the long term.

Your company may want to handle its contaminant issues internally; however, you may not be fully prepared. Hooke College of Applied Sciences, the educational unit of The McCrone Group (TMG), provides short training courses for industrial analysts to help your internal lab staff sharpen their contamination detection skills. The trusted advisors at McCrone Microscopes & Accessories, TMG’s instrument sales unit, are also able to help determine what your instrumentation needs are for your specific materials and methods. Please stop by our table and let us know how we can help improve your process.