Waters and the University of Maryland are establishing an international training laboratory to teach scientists from foreign governments and manufacturers the state-of-the-art analytical methods used to meet US food safety standards.

It is reported that 15% of the US food supply comes from overseas. “Food safety issues are vital in today’s growing global marketplace,” said Senator John Kerry, chair of the senate committee on foreign relations. “The creation of the International Food Safety Training Laboratory will help protect consumers. By training scientists here at home and abroad, we can work together towards a common goal of an internationally sound food safety testing system.”

Waters has entered into a multi‑year commitment to fund the laboratory’s construction, provide analytical systems and assist the organizers in designing training programmes.

President C. D. Mote, Jr, of the University of Maryland, said that the university is very excited about this partnership. “This collaboration is a superb example of how the public and private sectors can maximize their impact by combining their strengths. The new programmes have excellent potential for improving food safety internationally.”

For more information on the collaboration visit 

Articles

News

International food safety training laboratory

It is estimated that up to 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are stubbed, flicked and dropped every year. With few practical uses, any attempt at recycling the remains has been difficult; however a study published in 

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research

 proposes using them to prevent steel corrosion and could turn this trash into a tiny treasure.

Researchers in China studied the effect that extracts of cigarette butts in water would have on N80 steel, widely used in the oil industry, in hydrochloric acid. The corrosion of this steel under harsh conditions leads to costly damage and interuptions in production, which reported to cost oil producers millions of dollars annually. LC–MS was used on the butt water and was able to identify nine compounds, including nicotine, that help to inhibit metal corrosion. The inhibition efficiency of extracts in spectroscopic, polarization curve and weight loss studies confirmed this trend and showed that the efficiency was related to the concentration of butt water extracts.

The study suggests that the extracts may inhibit the corrosion via absorption into the metal surface, forming an oxidation film to protect the iron atoms from further dissolution.

1. Jun Zhao et al., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 49(8), 3986–3991 (2010).

It is estimated that up to 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are stubbed, flicked and dropped every year. With few practical uses, any attempt at recycling the remains has been difficult; however a study published in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research proposes using them to prevent steel corrosion and could turn this trash into a tiny treasure.

Used butt not wasted

Peas, beans and some other plant seeds contain proteins, called globulins, which have been shown to act as a defence against insects and other herbivores. Coffee beans contain large amounts of globulins, so scientists in Brazil studied the beans to assess their potential for warding off insects.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

1 tested the proteins against cowpea weevil larva. Proteins from the seeds of two coffee species were characterized and isolated by gel filtration and reversed-phase chromatography, before being fed to the weevil larva. The coffee proteins killed up to half of the insects and significantly reduced the larval weight relative to the control group confirming the insecticidal effect.

Next, the researchers hope to isolate the genes responsible for producing these proteins and insert them into tobacco for further insect tests. It is suggested that in the future similar gene insertions could be used in other food crops, such as grains, to allow those plants to produce their own insecticide.

M.B. Coelho et al., J. Agric. Food Chem., 58(5), 3050–3055 (2010).

Jitterbugs

A study performed by researchers from the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Almeria, Spain, has revealed the presence of 88 pollutants in the river waters of Madrid. The research, published in the 

Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry

 found that while compounds are to a great extent eliminated at wastewater treatment plants, a fraction remains in the river water. 

“Wastewater treatment plants fail to fully degrade many household products, such as biocides and aromas present in creams, toothpaste and shampoo. As a result, they end up in the environment,” said Amadeo R. Fernández-Alba, co-author of the study and professor of chemistry at the university.

To confirm the nature of the compounds, researchers employed a solid-phase extraction method, followed by two methods based on liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry systems with ion trap and time-of-flight analysers. The method detection limits achieved were in the 0.1–60 ng/L range and the concentrations detected ranged from 1–652 ng/L for nine priority substances or candidate pollutants, and from 110–9942 ng/L for 79 emerging pollutants.

The researcher underlines the fact that “there is no imminent danger, as the concentration and toxicity of most of the compounds is low, but the situation must be evaluated and monitored using parameters that guarantee they are harmless both in the short and long term.”

1. María Jesús Martínez Bueno et al., Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem., 90(3–6), 321–343 (2010).

A study performed by researchers from the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Almeria, Spain, has revealed the presence of 88 pollutants in the river waters of Madrid. The research, published in the Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, found that while compounds are to a great extent eliminated at wastewater treatment plants, a fraction remains in the river water.

The rivers of Madrid

The development of durable and inert stationary phases for GC has substantial benefits for the analysis of all compounds as it improves the sensitivity and reproducibility of the assay and increases the overall robustness of analysis. The introduction of a new range of capillary GC columns substantially reduces column bleed, increases inertness and offers unparalleled injection-to-injection and batch-to-batch reproducibility. The highly inert characteristics displayed, as well as the improved column performance, are outlined here in a series of tests and applications.

Regular Article

The introduction of a new range of capillary GC columns substantially reduces column bleed, increases inertness and offers unparalleled injection-to-injection and batch-to-batch reproducibility.

Improved Performance in Capillary GC Columns

When observing the growing oil prices it is obvious that biofuels will play an important role in keeping transportation costs at an affordable level. In the European Union member states, estimated production of biodiesel was almost 8 million metric tons in 2008. In comparison, the production of bioethanol with almost 2.3 million metric tons, was much lower, particularly when compared with the world’s main bioethanol producers — Brazil and the US. According to the European Commission, the addition of biofuels to mineral fuels will increase continuously during the next few decades. Revised in 2009, the EN 15376 Standard may become the base rule for bioethanol quality just as EN 14214 defines biodiesel. Within the bioethanol quality control, EN 15721 is applied as a test method for higher alcohols, methanol and volatile impurities in bioethanol when used as a blending component in petrol. The three parameters are determined using gas chromatography. In terms of performance of analytical equipment, the standard defines minimum requirements for chromatographic resolution, quantification limits and repeatability of results.

This quality control of bioethanol verifies maximum concentrations of methanol, higher alcohols and other impurities in bioethanol. Additionally, a lower limit of the concentration of ethanol plus higher alcohols is given. Definitions of the different groups and limits are shown.

This quality control of bioethanol verifies maximum concentrations of methanol, higher alcohols and other impurities in bioethanol.

Bioethanol Quality Control

I have a little black book that I have kept since starting my laboratory career (and is, therefore, not so little any longer), which contains useful facts or little known information that I have picked up over the years. Recently, I have been involved in several discussions that suggest some of this information has fallen from common knowledge or has been forgotten. One colleague suggested I publish a sample of tips and tricks from my notebook and invite replies to test this theory. So, this month I present part 1 of a smorgasbord of items that have surprised, helped or been truly revelatory to me during my GC career - I hope you also find them useful, informative or both. I would like to invite you all to reply with comments, corrections or your own ‘killer facts’ and contribute to the ‘Big Book of GC Facts’, which we may collectively publish for the benefit of all GC practitioners (

Incognito allows us to see into his little black book of GC facts.