Safe and sound

An Executive Interview with Waters

Food testing is, of course, paramount if you want to avoid a potential devastating safety scare, says Dr Paul Young, Senior Manager, Business Development, Waters Corporation.

“Accurate results are only meaningful if they can be attributed to the correct sample”
-Dr Paul Young, Waters

FS. Safety scares are driving demand for better food testing and traceability technologies. How is your company involved in this aspect of the food chain?
PY. From a food producer’s point of view, food safety is about managing the risk to consumers whilst at the same time protecting brand in a timely, cost effective manner. At Waters, we are working with customers worldwide to ensure that our technological innovations deliver both scientific and business advantages. For example, by utilizing the high throughput of ACQUITY UPLC combined with purposefully designed, complementary detection systems, customers are realising improvements in efficiency by covering a broader range of contaminants in each measurement than has been previously possible. Additionally, they are increasing throughput in an environmentally friendly way through simultaneously reducing solvent usage and protecting their business by generating unambiguous results the first time. Laboratories should not merely be tasked with generating results, but need to be considered as a key source of business information. Waters informatics products, like the NuGenesis Scientific Data Management System (SDMS), are designed to allow compliance ready data tracking and information sharing throughout an organisation across multiple geographies.

FS. In your opinion, what are the key factors to be taken into consideration when considering a food testing solution? And what are the key features companies should look out for?
PY. The single most important consideration must be one of efficacy. Results must be unambiguous, protecting both the consumers and the company. Solutions therefore need to be both robust and comprehensive. With food production, spoilage is an important consideration, so turnaround times must also be minimized to avoid costly waste. Companies should look for versatility in their solutions, with the aim to increase the scope of the analytical methods. In short, robust, rapid, unambiguous methods can generate significant return on investment savings.

FS. What challenges do food producers face in addressing the issue of traceability – both from an operational and a compliance perspective?
PY. Effective traceability is essential for the management of hazards when they are identified. From an operational perspective, companies need to be able to identify ingredients and production lots to minute levels of detail as is practical, in order to reduce or even prevent significant waste when an issue is detected. Under European law, traceability through all stages of the production is a regulatory requirement and it is expected that such a requirement is likely to be enacted in US food law in the future. International trade has been significantly disrupted in the past as a result of confusion involving laboratory analyses and export certificates. Therefore, in addition to addressing their own business needs, food producers are obliged to demonstrate due diligence by putting in place robust traceability procedures that will stand up to regulatory scrutiny.

FS. The greatest threat to public safety in the event of a food recall is that traceability information is not timely. How can laboratory information management systems help drive greater traceability into the food production process?
PY. Laboratory information management systems play a key role in managing risks, since accurate results are only meaningful if they can be attributed to the correct sample. At Waters, we are extending the access to laboratory information beyond the lab into all areas of the business through the development of a suite of complementary informatics products, designed to increase productivity by collating and making widely available laboratory information from diverse data sources.

FS. What will be the key trends in traceability and testing over the next few years? Are there any developments you are particularly excited/concerned by?
PY. In previous times it was uncommon to encounter techniques capable of detecting more than a handful of analytes simultaneously. Yet, recently Waters scientists described a UPLC-MSMS method, developed on the Waters TQD, which is capable of detecting more than 400 pesticide residues in an eight minute chromatographic separation. Whilst MSMS detection is likely to remain the gold standard for quantitative analysis, many scientists are starting to employ the versatility and accurate mass capabilities of Time of Flight MS detection to develop detection systems of almost limitless scope. A challenge this creates is one of management of the vast quantities of data generated by these systems. At Waters, we have and continue to address this through targeted development of our informatics suite of software.

I expect that we will continue to see advances in throughput, in the applicability of methods and in the ease of use of the instruments themselves.

Prior to joining Waters in 2007, Dr Young was employed by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland for more than 25 years, involved in development of mass spectrometric methods for food safety analysis. Additionally, he has frequently delivered food safety training on behalf of international bodies.