The inspector's detector

The United States Food and Drug Administration in Irvine, California, USA has purchased the Dionex ICS-5000 ion chromatography system with mass spectrometer for the analysis of biogenic amines in fish samples.

Consumption of large amounts of biogenic amines, such as histamine, putrescine and cadaverine, can lead to allergic reactions in some individuals, and can also be life threatening in some cases. The US FDA has established a defect action level of 50 mg/kg histamine and a toxicity level of 500 mg/kg histamine in fish.

According to the manufacturer, the system is ideal for IC–MS analysis and applications of this type. The system flexibility and modularity is reported to provide the ability to analyse samples at capillary, microbore or standard flow-rates (or any combination of two in a dual system), and to configure an ion chromatography system specifically for the required solutions.

A range of food testing application notes are available from the company’s website, www.dionex.com under Markets/Food and Beverage/Food Safety.

This story originally appeared in The Column. Click here to view that issue.