Around the world, major investments in new food science laboratories are designed to bring the benefits of swift analyses to manufacturers and regulatory authorities. Sean Ottewell reports.
Eurofins Scientific, a global leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing, is transferring its experience in radioactivity analysis of food and water to its newly created laboratory for Radioactive Material Analysis (RMA) in Japan.
Following the powerful earthquake on the 11th March 2011 that devastated eastern Japan and severely damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, calls for vigilance over radioactive contamination have raised the demand for testing in food, environment and industrial products in the country.
Eurofins has dedicated resources in its Tokyo laboratory to inspect and analyse materials in the country for radioactive contamination. The group is transferring to the new dedicated laboratory its technical and scientific expertise in radioactive material analyses in food. This experience has been accumulated at its Hamburg site over the years following the 1986 Chernobyl power plant explosion and in its Paris' laboratory, one of the few laboratories officially approved to test drinking water for radioactivity in France, home to one of the largest concentrations of nuclear power plants in the world.[Page Break]
Reliable analyses
The RMA laboratory allows Eurofins to provide clients with highly reliable analyses identical to those provided by the group's laboratories in Germany and France, within a short turnaround time of a maximum of one week. The laboratory utilises several germanium semiconductor (HP-Ge) and NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors to provide analyses of, among others, radioactive materials I-131, Cs-134, Cs-137 and Ru-103. The Group's laboratory in Hamburg, Germany, continues to be a global reference in testing services to meet the radiation safety certification requirements for exporting to Europe.
In line with its commitment to corporate social responsibility and its efforts to support the communities where it operates, the Eurofins Group will be donating the entire profit from the new RMA laboratory to the Japanese Red Cross and other public organisations engaged in welfare activities in the wake of the disaster.
The company has also signed a definitive, mutually-binding agreement to acquire a 67 per cent stake in each of its two subsidiaries, namely IPL Invest and IPL Santé Environnement Durable Nord (IPL SED Nord).
These entities are leaders in the French environmental testing market, and generate combined annual revenues of approximately EUR45m.
In preparation of the expected integration of the IPL SED companies into Eurofins, both groups have commenced a commercial and technical co-operation to combine their expertise in environmental analysis, and now offer customers an integrated portfolio of high-quality analytical solutions, with an optimal coverage of the French market.[Page Break]
Major US initiative
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the University of Maryland, their Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN), and Waters Corporation have opened the International Food Safety Training Laboratory (IFSTL) - a groundbreaking public-private partnership that applies government, university and private industry expertise and resources to the global food safety challenge.
The IFSTL is the world's only permanent food safety lab that provides hands-on lab training on detection methods and classroom lessons on regulatory standards, educating governments and food exporters so they can ensure food is safe before it reaches the table. This, it says, will enable food safety standards to rise globally.
Food producers across the globe face an increasing challenge to ensure safe food supplies. As global food trade grows to nearly US$1 trillion in 2011, triple what it was just 20 years ago, food safety regulations and technologies are evolving and consumer demand for safe, high-quality food continues to grow.
Governments and food manufacturers around the world have sought the training the IFSTL provides, believing it is essential to meet today's food safety challenge.
Said Waters executive vice president Art Caputo: "Waters is committed to improving the availability, quality and consistency of food safety testing capacity. We learned from our customers that there is a real need for help and support in understanding the diverse food safety technologies and standards that exist around the globe.
"Serving as a bridge between governments and industry, Waters approached the FDA and the university with the solution: a powerful public-private partnership that leverages the best expertise and resources to help build trust, collaboration and ensure the safety of our food."
As a US-based global company that delivers analytical solutions for governments and name brand companies in 150 countries, Waters says it understands the challenges that governments around the world face to ensure safe food supplies.
The FDA has publically identified the need for government and private industry to work together. The IFSTL will provide critical support to helping the FDA and foreign food producers meet requirements, such as the US Food Safety Modernisation Act signed into law in early 2011.
Said Michael Landa, director with the FDA's, Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition: "FDA looks forward to this opportunity to build global laboratory capacity. The International Food Safety Training laboratory will help to address food safety challenges world-wide through training and technical assistance."
US government scientists from FDA and USDA, along with university experts, will lead intensive trainings focused on detecting both chemical and microbiological contaminants, preparing and testing samples according fit-for-purpose methods that allow scientists to validate and use results to make the right decisions about whether food is safe and meets regulations.
Trainees can sign up for courses that address specific issue of concern both to the U.S. and global communities (Fig.1). The IFSTL will have the ability to teach 200 professionals per year and will be operated by JIFSAN.
"This uncommon collaboration promises a powerful response to a serious and growing international concern," says University of Maryland president Wallace D Loh. "Joining academic, private sector and government expertise makes a lot of sense, and is a uniquely effective way to build international scientific capacity and food safety."
The IFSTL is equipped with Waters-provided state-of-the-art ultra performance liquid chromatography, with photodiode array, fluorescence and mass spectrometry detection.[Page Break]
Investment
Finally, Exova's flagship food testing laboratory has doubled its microbiological analysis capability after a £250,000 investment from the business. The laboratory, based in Grimsby, now has the resources to process over 4000 samples per day, making it one of the largest food testing laboratories in the UK.
As well as undergoing a complete refurbishment the layout of the laboratory has been redesigned to capture the most efficient way to handle and test the submitted food samples.
The objective was to minimise the test process and maximise the process controls to protect the sample integrity.
Great emphasis has been placed on temperature control and segregation between low and high risk product types at all stages of the process.
The enhanced microbiological service allows Exova to analyse a greater number of foods to ensure microbial safety and product quality.[Page Break]
Pathogen detection
The UKAS-accredited laboratory provides pathogen detection and screening for microbial quality for large and small manufacturers and retailers.
Peter Brassington, general manager at the Exova Grimsby laboratory, said: "The investment is an important development for Exova, and forms part of the Food and Consumer Products division's long-term strategy, which includes plans for further expansion of our global testing facilities and capabilities in the future. We can now offer our clients a much greater volume of testing while also offering a unique web-based service for the storage, manipulation, retrieval, reporting and trending of analytical data. The investment enhances our position as one of the leading food testing companies in the world and we are already seeing clients take advantage of this increased capacity".
Meanwhile, Exova's laboratories in Plzen, Czech Republic, and Newcastle, UK, have shared a £300,000 investment into their creep strain facilities. In total, 42 test frames are being upgraded with a new, sophisticated automated control system. Of the 42 frames, 10 are being upgraded in Plzen and 32 in Newcastle. Of these, eight frames will have a test temperature capability up to 1,200°C. All frames will be operational by the end of the year, and the extra capacity will help meet increased worldwide demand for this test type.
The new control system is capable of controlling temperature, strain measurement and load control on any type of creep test.
