Pickering Laboratories' Mycotoxin Workshop held at MidWest AOAC in Lincoln, NE

Sculpture on U of NE-Lincoln campus

By Maria Ofitserova, PhD

At the Midwest AOAC meeting (Held from June 6-9, 2011 in Lincoln, Nebraska) Pickering Laboratories presented a workshop on analysis of Aflatoxins in different matrices such as animal feeds, corn and peanut butter. The workshop generated a lot of interest with representatives from several State Departments of Agriculture, State Universities, as well as companies like Silliker and General Mills attending the two sessions of the workshop. The participants were able to learn about new analytical equipment and have a discussion about different aspects of Mycotoxins analysis.

During the workshop the samples extracts were cleaned with AflaClean™ Immunoaffinity columns and analyzed using an HPLC method with post-column photochemical derivatization by UVE™ and fluorescence detection. We also demonstrated how AcceClean™ workstation automates the labor-intensive column clean up step. The participants were impressed with versatility of the AcceClean workstation capable of handling multi-step procedures with both Immunoaffinity and SPE columns.

To learn more about Pickering products for Mycotoxins Analysis please visit our website http://www.pickeringlabs.com/catalog/Mycotoxin_Analysis.asp or call (800)-654-3330

Southern Section AOAC Meeting

By Wendy Rasmussen

From April 11-12, Pickering attended the Southern Section AOAC Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The meeting was well attended, and we enjoyed some good talks with current and future customers as well as long-time friends in the industry. 


In preparation for our Vendor Seminar (see below), I did some research about the southern states, and Georgia in particular. In the process, I learned a couple of interesting facts about Georgia.  For example, even though Georgia is nicknamed the Peach State, they're only the 3rd largest producer of peaches. Turns out the state is known for its Quality rather than the quantity of the fruit. According to the internet, Georgia produces A LOT of poultry & eggs (Georgia is ranked 1st in the US for production of broilers*),  but also peanuts as well as cotton and tobacco.

We presented a Vendor Seminar at the meeting about our Aflatoxin Analysis products. We opted for a "show & tell" approach in which we brought in the key components to the method: 

UVE Photochemical Reactor

 

AflaClean Immunoaffinity Columns

and the AcceCLEAN Automated Sample Handling Workstation

The combination of these products was later demonstrated at the Mid West AOAC Workshop in Lincoln, NE

More about Georgia:
http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gaecon.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28U.S._state%29


*Broiler: A young chicken bred for meat

Chromatography Quiz No. 6

Chromatography Quiz #5 Results

We would like to congratulate the grand prize winner of our last newsletter’s Carbamate Chromatography Quiz: June Black from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection! 

She has won, and will shortly be receiving, an extensive California Wines Gift Basket!  Additionally, for this quiz all of our participants will each be receiving a $25 gift card from Bevmo! Again, we would like to thank you all for your submissions.  

The correct answer for the modified Carbamate chromatogram: The system was improperly equilibrated at a higher percentage of methanol (50:50 Water:Methanol) prior to injection.  After injection, the gradient program began with normal starting conditions (85:15 Water:Methanol). For the less retained compounds, the improper conditions on the column at the time of injection will push them through faster, causing coelutions.  Longer retained compounds are less affected by starting conditions of the column, and impacted more by the gradient (which was correct) so you see less of an effect on the later part of the chromatogram. 

Thank you! 

Pickering Labs

Chromatography Quiz #6:

Identify the error made when running the Aflatoxins chromatogram below and win a prize!  Simply email your answer as well as your full contact information to Rebecca at rlsmith@pickeringlabs.com by March 31^st in order to win.  You will receive email confirmation that your submission has been received.  The troubleshooting answer and winner congratulations will be published in the next issue (to be anonymous, please notify Rebecca in submission). 

Aflatoxins Analysis by AOAC Official Method 2005.08

LCTech Standard: 0.25 ng B2, G2 and 1.0 ng B1, G1 injected on-column in both chromatograms

LCTech Analytical Column: 150 x 4.6 mm; RP C18 (P/N 10522)

LCTech Guard Column: 8 x 4 mm (P/N 10523; holder P/N 10750)

Normal Operating Conditions: (for reference only, condition changes may be reflected in chromatogram)

Column Temperature: 36 °C

Mobile Phase: Water/methanol/acetonitrile 55/30/15

Isocratic Flow rate: 1.3 mL/min

Post-column conditions:

Photochemical Derivatization: 254nm UV low pressure lamp (LCTech UVE derivatizer, Pickering P/N 1100-3347)

Detection: Fluorometer:  ex 365 nm, em 460 nm

Pickering Laboratories Introduces Key Products to Herbal Supplements Market

By Mike Gottschalk

The Supplyside West Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada October 19-23, is a very important Herbal Supplement Industry event. It provides important educational and networking opportunities to this $29 billion market. Since the FDA sent out required current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) in 2007, the Herbal Supplement producers are working to meet the new requirements before the FDA audits. These regulations are intended to insure the quality, purity and safety of the Herbal Supplement products available today. Pickering Laboratories had a booth at the show to assist the producers and laboratories with the instrumentation, chemistry, methods, and support for the analysis and clean-up of samples for Amino Acids, Aflatoxins, Carbamate pesticides, Glyphosate Herbicides, and 23 other methods.

Click on the links to see our Latest Method Abstracts, introduced at the show:
1) MA 215: Clean-up and Determination of Alfatoxins in Peanuts and Peanut Butter 

2) MA 218: Clean-up and Analysis of Aflatoxins and Ochratoxin A in Herbs and Spices 


The annual meeting of the AOAC International in Orlando, Florida on September 20-25, also had a strong emphasis on Herbal Supplements testing. The AOAC organization is central to FDA efforts to provide analytical structure to testing methods for this newly regulated industry. Pickering Laboratories participated in the AOAC sponsored Single Laboratory Validation of Multi-residue Mycotoxin Analysis in Corn. For this work, Pickering Laboratories was awarded the “Single Lab Validation of the Year”. This pivotal work in the analysis of Mycotoxins continues in Herbal Supplements as well as agricultural products.

Send us an email to support@pickeringlabs.com to request a copy of our poster: “Clean-up and Determination of Alfatoxins in Peanuts and Peanut” from the AOAC show.




Our next show is Pittcon 2011 on March 13-18 in Atlanta, Georgia.

See you there!

NIST/NIH Dietary Supplements Quality Assurance Program Workshop

By Wendy Rasmussen

Natural products industry is under increasing pressure to increase analytical testing of raw materials and finished products. This not only includes contaminants (such as heavy metals, pesticides, and mycotoxins), but also identification and nutrition labeling.

The DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act) created the Office of Dietary Supplements in 2002. The Dietary Supplement Quality Assurance Program, is a collaboration between the NIH's ODS and the NIST. The program consists of Exercises in which several samples are sent out to participating labs throughout the year, and the results are then analyzed in a report. This is a completely voluntary exercise, and it gives a laboratory a great opportunity to check their results against a certified value and also against those of their peers. Even though participation is not part of a regulatory certification, the choice to participate greatly increases confidence and credibility.

And since the NIST are working closely with the NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements, I asked the ODS if they could describe the relationship:

"The DSQAP is part of the ODS Analytical Methods and Reference Materials Program. We’ve been funding them to produce supplement matrix reference materials since about 2002. A few years ago, we discovered that NIST had QA programs for other commodities, and we thought that a dietary supplement program would complement the reference materials already being produced and added funding to the inter agency agreement we already had in place with them. While we are a funder for the NIST program, it could be described as more of a collaboration than a strict funding relationship. NIST pretty much matches our funding with internal funding. "

The NIST website http://www.nist.gov/mml/analytical/dsqaprogram.cfm also does a good job of describing the program in more detail. If you would like to participate in the DSLQAP, they would love to have more participants, just send them an email to the address on the above webpage.

This past September, the NIST hosted a workshop in Bethesda, MD which brought together participants from several sample exercises. This was a great opportunity for labs and companies to come together to discuss and learn. Pickering Laboratories participated in the most recent Exercises by analyzing Aflatoxin in peanut samples.

We used our Photochemical reactor (UVE) and our AflaCLEAN Immunoaffinity columns for the sample cleanup. The results can be found on our new application note and in a presentation given to the group at the workshop.

We gave a quick presentation to the group on Thursday morning, detailing our method and results. We would love to share our talk titled simply  "Aflatoxin Analysis". Just send us an email to support@pickeringlabs.com and we'll send you a copy!

The Photochemical derivatization of Aflatoxins has been shown to be a very rugged and sensitive method for analyzing low-levels of the toxins. And the Immunoaffinity columns can be used to cleanup a very wide variety of sample matrices. Indeed, there have been several publications showing the results using Photochemical Derivatization.

We are now distributing Mycotoxin Immunoaffinity products for Ochratoxin and Aflatoxin. The performance and batch-to-batch reproducibility of the columns is exceptional and far exceeds that of other manufacturers. The columns can be used for any matrix, from wine and juice, to nuts and grains, to herbs and spices. Contact Sales for more information.

Definition of Acronyms:
NIH - National Institutes of Health
ODS - Office of Dietary Supplements, part of NIH
NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology
DSLQAP - Dietary Supplement Laboratory Quality Assurance Program, formed by the ODS in collaboration with NIST
AHPA - American Herbal Products Association
AOAC - Association of Analytical Chemists

Laszlo Torma has also contributed a very nice piece about our Membership in the AHPA on our blog.

New Product Lines from Pickering, October 2009

Mycotoxin product line
We are now distributing Mycotoxin Immunoaffinity products for Ochratoxin and Aflatoxin. The performance and batch-to-batch reproducibility of the columns is exceptional and far exceeds that of other manufacturers. The columns can be used for any matrix, from wine and juice, to nuts and grains, to herbs and spices. Contact Sales for more information.

GPC Sample Clean up line
We have a new GPC Sample Clean-up product line! We have both automated and manual GPC cleanup systems and we also have systems that include concentration & solvent exchange, or just GPC. Sample cleanup using GPC is especially useful for fatty matrices, but also perfect for vegetable matter and spices, as well as soil & waste water.

New faster AAA columns
We now have a Lithium amino acid run which will separate 45 amino acids in 70 minutes for Physiologic fluids, an a new 30-min Sodium amino acid run which will separate the 20 amino acids commonly found in protein hydrolysate samples. These columns are for use with our Pinnacle PCX.

Histamine Product Line
Our newly launched Histamine product line consists of Dip-sticks and Elisa kits as well as Post-column derivatization for fast and in-situ testing as well as quick, reproducible, and sensitive methods for follow-up confirmation. Contact Pickering Laboratories at 1-800-654-3330 or sales@pickeringlabs.com for more information!