Global Challenges in Chemical Analysis for Food Safety

Description:
Evolving tools for food safety


The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working to develop a series of programs and reference materials (RMs) to assist the food industry and public health officials ensure the availability of safe and nutritious foods and supplements. The tools at NIST include RMs for the determination specific contaminants including toxic elements, pesticides, and mycotoxins; administration of educationally focused interlaboratory studies allowing analysts to evaluate and improve measurement capabilities; and non-targeted testing methodologies for the detection of contamination.

Detection, identification, and quantification of per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is an area of focus in the food safety program. As contaminated soil, water, and biosolids are used to grow crops, PFAS enters the food chain. NIST has acquired PFAS contaminated meat, corn silage, spinach, eggs, and milk. Due to the different protein, fat, composition, and metabolic pathways each material has different types and levels of PFAS. The analyses are further complicated by the unique sample preparation, separation, and detection challenges requirements for each material. Once characterized the materials will be made available as reference materials for use in QA/QC and method validation checks as well as in interlaboratory comparisons, improving the measurement capabilities of the PFAS community.

Speaker: Catherine Rimmer - National Institute of Standards and Technology
Kate is the group leader of the Organic Chemical Metrology Group in the Chemical Sciences Division at NIST. She has a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and her experience is in liquid phase separations and the characterization of foods and dietary supplements for reference materials. Currently the Organic Chemical Metrology Group works on the development of tools for improved analysis of environmental contaminants, clinical markers, nutrients, food safety, and forensic challenges.