Customer success stories in food testing

Water contaminants. Drug residues. Illegal antibiotics. With Waters systems no matter where food comes from, scientists can test to see that contaminants don't come with them.
Read about the successful results our Food Testing customers have seen:

Protecting The Empire from unseen invaders.

Protecting the citizenry of the UK from dangerous food contaminants is the job of the scientists at the Food and Environmental Research Agency (Fera). In a single year, they will test tens of thousands of samples, running their equipment hard, 24/7.

With that kind of volume and with so much riding on the accuracy of the results, is it any wonder Fera uses Waters instrumentation? The tandem quadrupole MS systems along with the Waters AutoSpec Premier GC/MS Detector monitor for a myriad of contaminants including pesticides, veterinary drugs, and even packaging chemicals. The equipment provides extremely sensitive analysis at very high speed.

An important combination when dealing with perishable imports like fish from the Far East. Typically, the fish is held at port while samples are taken to Fera to look for prohibited antibiotics or their residues. Since the cargo is perishable, test results are needed very quickly.

Waters high quality, speedy analysis allows the laboratory to respond rapidly and either reject the fish right there on the dock or approve it for import.

Swift, accurate results like this is what continues to earn the UK a reputation for food safety vigilance.

View the video from Richard Fussell at the Food and Environmental Research Agency (Fera).

Analytical Laboratories

A major testing lab for FDA-regulated dietary supplements

Up until 10 years ago, a high percentage of dietary supplements in the market could be adulterations. That's a shocking fact. Fortunately, the FDA issued a GMP regulation three years ago that all dietary supplement manufacturers need to comply with much more stringent requirements.

Analytical Laboratories is who these dietary supplement manufacturers and raw material suppliers turn to when they need testing of their materials and the assurance that the quality of their materials will meet FDA regulations.

And Waters is who Analytical Laboratories turns to when they need the fastest and highest quality data from their analytical instrumentation. When Analytical Laboratories needs to analyze complex, multi-ingredient samples or scan up to 300 pesticides in 1 run, they rely on their Waters ACQUITY UPLC/Xevo MS systems to get it done within 5-10 minutes. Much better and faster than traditional HPLC systems that would have taken 30 minutes or more!

David Ji, the Laboratory Director at Analytical Laboratories, has years of experience in analytical chemistry (including his Masters thesis in stationary phase HPLC) so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to separation science. He strongly believes that the UPLC technology by Waters is the future of separation science. In fact, since 2004 when ACQUITY UPLC was introduced, David Ji has purchased at least 1 UPLC system every year. He depends on his UPLC/MS/MS systems to handle his ever-increasing workload and ultimately ensure that dietary supplements on store shelves are safe for consumption.

View the video from David Ji, Ph.D. at Analytical Laboratories.

Certified Laboratories

Problem peppers put UK in a pickle. Waters helps prevent a repeat.

The United Kingdom had a pepper problem of prodigious proportions. A 40,000-pound shipment of chili peppers was brought in from a foreign country, converted into food products, and then distributed far and wide. That's when the government discovered that the peppers contained Sudan Red, a dye that's ok in furniture wax and floor polish, but hardly in food. The resulting food recall was one of the largest in history.

The challenge of making sure unsafe chemicals, like Sudan Red, never took another ride on a pack of peppers again fell to Certified Laboratories, a leader in food safety. They relied on Waters equipment. The low levels of detection required as well as the wide variety of products undergoing tests could not have been accomplished without the Waters ACQUITY UPLC^®/MS/MS System. Aided by the American Spice Trade Council, Certified Laboratories has been able to utilize Waters technology and analytical science to detect Sudan Red in chili peppers prior to entering the country.

Much of what we eat today comes from all over the world. Waters technology is helping companies like Certified Laboratories ensure the foods we import are safe for human consumption.

View the video from Martin Mitchell at Certified Laboratories.