Food and Beverage Analysis

Diesel exhaust fumes can rapidly degrade the floral odours used by honeybees (Apis melifera) to identify flowering plants, according to results published by scientists at the University of Southampton (Southampton, UK) in the journal Scientific Reports.1

An interview with Hans-Gerd Janssen of Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen and the University of Amsterdam. Janssen is involved with method development for gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry; the development of instrumentation for multidimensional chromatography for food analysis and biomacromolecular characterization; and problem solving and efficient routine analysis of foods (particularly oils and fats). This interview discusses the challenges encountered in the analysis of fats and oils, how multidimensional chromatography can be applied to the analysis, 2D LC for food-related compound analysis, the analysis of natural antioxidants in edible oils, and future steps in his research.

Is "green foodomics" another buzzword or a new direction in food analysis?

Latest events news.

CAMAG Laboratory

Agilent

Malvern Instruments Ltd.

UCT

Is "green foodomics" another buzzword or a new direction in food analysis? To find out more, LCGC spoke to Professor Elena Iba?ez of the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL) in Madrid, Spain.

Agilent Technologies Inc.

Life Technologies (California, USA) has announced the signing of a five-year collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (USA).

Click here to view the complete E-Separation Solutions newsletter from July 29, 2013.

The Column spoke to Professor Andrea Tapparo, of the University of Padova, Italy, about the use of chromatography to investigate declining honeybee populations.

This article examines the FFF technique with particular reference to the analyses of nanoparticles in food packaging.

Agilent Technologies, Inc

Three scientists from the University of Illinois (Illinois, USA) have detected key compounds in honey using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) that can up-regulate detoxification genes. HPLC was performed on ethyl acetate honey samples identifying four compounds that induce detoxification genes, potentially required for the detoxification of pesticides.

Click here to view the full LCGC Europe E-newsletter from 7 June.

6th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Food Analysis (RAFA 2013)

The six Tuesday afternoon presentations will examine food safety issues and advances in MS for characterization of additives and contaminants, including a quantitative comparison of DART-MS to GC?LC-MS methods for contaminant screening of foods, cosmetics, and packaging; experimental design guidelines for non-targeted analyses; a demonstration of the use of multivariate software in developing sample class prediction models based on a recursive workflow; the development of a mobile ambient mass spectrometry for on-site screening for plasticizers; melamine, and residue pesticides in tainted foods; an ultra-fast method and direct method to quantitatively monitor phenolic off-flavor compounds in wine to prevent product spoilage during aging; and a demonstration that UHPLC?QTOF-MS has the potential to differentiate whiskies on the basis of origin as well as age.

Contamination of food products with pesticides is a growing concern because of recognized damaging health effects. This concern is particularly acute for baby foods because of the vulnerability of young children to harmful effects of synthetic chemicals, particularly pesticides. This application note presents results for analysis of trace levels of 24 organophosphorus (OP) pesticides in baby foods using the Shimadzu GCMS-TQ8030 triple quadrupole GC–MS-MS.

Pickering Laboratories, Inc.

Beverages, such as sodas and energy drinks, can include a number of polar ingredients, which are easily soluble in the water matrix of the drinks. These ingredients include sweeteners (sugars and sugar substitutes), caffeine, vitamin supplements, amino acids, organic acids, and plant extracts. Because the analytes are already in solution, there is no need for extensive sample preparation. Dilution followed by direct injection into an HPLC is typically suitable.

Caramel colorings are used as additives in a broad range of food and beverage products, but have no nutritional or preservative function. Recently, the potential hazard to humans of ammonia- and ammonia-sulfite-process caramel colorings was raised, because they contain the by-product 4-methylimidazole, which is a potential carcinogen (1).

Scientists in Portugal have been investigating important molecular and biochemical changes that occur when grapes are growing to find out how they affect wine aroma.

Click here to view the complete E-Separation Solutions newsletter from April 29, 2013.

Is ?green foodomics? another buzz word or a new direction in food analysis? LCGC spoke to Professor Elena Ibañez to find out more.

Scientists in Portugal have been investigating important molecular and biochemical changes that occur when grapes are growing to find out how they affect wine aroma.

Tips and Tricks on Screening and Confirmatory Methods for Residues and Contaminants in Foods

Click here to view the complete E-Separation Solutions newsletter from April 4, 2013.

This analytical approach can be applied in many fields; the example illustrates its use in a food chemistry application.