THE ROLE OF ANALYTICAL TESTING IN MAINTAINING FOOD SAFETY

BY JOHN SZPYLKA, PH.D & XOCHITL JAVIER

The safety of the food supply appropriately remains a high priority for industry
stakeholders, regulatory agencies and consumers. With the emergence of new safety
challenges and issues, companies are establishing and upgrading programs to reduce risk
factors. These programs are continuously monitored for reliability and effectiveness. Due to the
health and safety risks posed by chemical, microbiological and environmental contaminants,
analytical methods are increasingly becoming a centerpiece of food safety programs.

Innovative analytical approaches are being developed in response to emerging food

safety issues. Established, officially approved methods are used to monitor for known issues.
Oftentimes, new analytical methods are developed or modified rapidly in response to issues,
such as melamine contamination, which are unforeseen. In such instances, accurate
data derived from sound, validated analytical methods are required to enable industry
stakeholders and regulators to make sound scientific decisions.

Through research, industry has improved a host of analytical methods in recent years,
resulting in higher sensitivity for difficult-to-detect contaminants, detection of contaminants in
new matrix classes and faster turnaround times for results. These advances have been made in
the face of changing regulations, more rigorous method-validation standards and consumer
demands for safe, quality products. Going forward, this spirit of innovation will continue to be
crucial in industrys efforts to ensure the safety of the global food chain.

Microbial Contamination
When you hear food safety, there is a natural tendency to
think initially of microbiological issues. Over the past few decades, foodborne illnesses
associated with Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia
coli O157:H7 have been hammered into the public consciousness. In 2013 alone, significant
news and media coverage were devoted to the discovery of L. monocytogenes in
salads and Salmonella in peanut butter.

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 Among the top causes of product recalls nationwide, Salmonella is the number one
pathogen of concern in the U.S., causing over 19,000 hospitalizations each year, according to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. Salmonella contamination is most
commonly associated with eggs, poultry, meat, unpasteurized milk or juice, cheese, raw fruits
and vegetables, spices and nuts.

Chemical Contamination
Public awareness of chemical safety issues is quickly gaining ground. Recent events have
been captured in news headlines, highlighting the diverse safety and analytical challenges
posed by chemical contaminants.

After years of consideration, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed an
action level of 10 parts per billion this summer for inorganic arsenic in apple juice. For two
decades, FDA has monitored apple juice for arsenic and other contaminants through its Total
Diet Study and the Toxic Elements in Food and Foodware, and Radionuclides in Food Program.
The results of the latest FDA survey on apple juice indicated that the majority of samples were
below the action level for inorganic arsenic.[1]

Higher arsenic levels in juice products have been reported in previous studies. An action
level and risk assessment for arsenic in rice and rice-based products might be the next step, and
FDA has recently released analytical test results, indicating that levels found were too low to
cause immediate or short-term health effects. However, FDA will next assess the potential
health risk from long-term exposure to arsenic in rice and rice-based products.[2]

Acrylamide has long been a part of the human diet, commonly found in industrial
settings and used in a wide range of products. Acrylamide formation is particularly likely in
potatoes and cereals and other carbohydrate-rich foods, approximately 40 percent of the
American diet. Due to the endogenous matrix interferences inherent to starchy foods, the
analysis of acrylamide presents numerous challenges.

This past summer, dicyandiamide, an agricultural chemical used by New Zealand dairy
farmers to promote grass growth and reduce soil nitrogen leaching, was detected in minute
traces in certain New Zealand milk powders.[3] The issue was isolated to a small number of
manufacturing plants and products. Food safety authorities significantly boosted surveillance to

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prevent any further incidents, and a number of laboratories worldwide developed
methodologies utilizing sophisticated analytical techniques to address the issue.

Building an arsenal of reliable and validated methods to meet todays and tomorrows
challenges rests on three essential elements: consensus, continuous evolution and new
processes.

Building Consensus
The 2007 melamine crisis, which significantly impacted the pet food, feed and infant
formula industries, is an ideal example for building a process to quickly achieve a scientific
consensus in analytical methods. When melamine and related compounds were initially
discovered in various food sources, cascading events led to investigations both in the U.S. and
abroad. Government bodies and laboratories around the globe developed methods, collected
data and dutifully reported their findings. However, analytical techniques, range-of-detection
limits, sampling programs and other important factors varied in the development of these
methods.[4]

At a December 2008 meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO), food safety
experts set forth melamine thresholds that government bodies would be able to adopt. Canada
was the first country to adopt tolerable daily intake guidelines matching those set by the WHO
and set a standard for allowable melamine levels in infant formula.[5]

While we have learned a great deal from this unfortunate event, it was plainly evident
that industry could and should do more to handle the next crisis. For example, the formation of
an emergency response consensus method group could be highly beneficial. Joining with
recognized global agencies, such as the International Food Safety Authorities Network, the
group would be empowered to establish a process, allowing experts to organize a forum, agree
on a method and quickly standardize the selected method to offset the impact of a crisis.

AOAC International has established a Priority Response Working Group as part of its
Stakeholder Panel on Strategic Food Analytical Methods. The objective of this is to develop a
proposal on establishing a consensus method in response to an emergency situation.

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Evolving to Meet Changing Needs
When recalls and tragedies occur, beyond their significant economic impact on food
companies, the trust of the consumer is compromised. The industrial microbiology market is
driven by public concerns, increasing regulations and the need for faster results and meaningful
data.

According to Food MicroFifth Edition: Microbiology Testing in the US Food Industry,

over 200 million microbiology tests were collected in the U.S. food processing industry in 2010.
Published by Strategic Consulting, the 2012 report covers released research findings conducted
with more than 100 food processing plants producing a broad range of products in different
food segments.

Microbiology testing will continue to move toward ever-more rapid and sensitive
methods and techniques. As an example, the industry has moved toward increasing sample
sizes, from 25 g to 375 g. A larger sample size increases sensitivity, increases the likelihood of
finding bacterial concerns and ultimately decreases risk.

The need for meaningful and actionable results has led to rapid methods,
revolutionizing the industry. As part of this period of transformation, the food industry may
look to existing technologies and applications in neighboring industries. Real-time polymerase
chain reaction brought us more powerful and sensitive techniques, allowing industry to
quantitate DNA sequences through this breakthrough technology. The microbiological testing
evolution will likely include continued gains in speed, as well as in the depth of the analysis, due
to the ongoing efforts of research laboratories and leading diagnostic testing companies.

Chemical analysis is an important component in many quality and safety programs. A

few of the more prevalent issues of concern include pesticides, toxins, veterinary drugs, heavy
metals, allergens, economic adulterants and environmental pollutants.

Instrumentation such as liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

and gas chromatography-MS/MS has given us the ability to detect chemical contaminants at
very low concentrations, improving confidence in the food supply. To improve the quality of
surveillance, industry has developed a number of multiresidue methods, wherein multiple
substances can be analyzed simultaneously. However, there are drawbacks in that some

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residues and metabolites may not be included in the screens. Furthermore, due to different
extraction protocols, the same method cannot always be used for all matrices.
As the evolution in contaminant screens continues to advance the scope and depth of these
methods, the ability to more completely monitor the food supply for known contaminants will
improve.

New Directions
Unwanted or undeclared ingredients can find their way into foods either intentionally or
by accident. For these occurrences, targeted testing cant directly identify the issue and will
only be useful once the chemical compound is known. Improvements in analytical
instrumentation and data analysis software are allowing the development of nontargeted
testing protocols to create a fingerprint of an ingredient (or food). Data from the subsequent
testing of new lots of ingredients (or new productions of foods) are compared with the base
fingerprints, with high degrees of difference raising warnings. A high degree of difference
would prompt deeper examinations to assess the ingredient or food for possible
contamination.

Various technologies are being explored for nontargeted screening. A recent example
employed LC-MS/MS coupled with principal component analysis (PCA) to recognize adulterated
and unadulterated foods.[6] After extraction of polar and nonpolar components of a variety of
food ingredients, the two classes of components were analyzed using general separations on a
C18 column with MS/MS detection. PCA identified the spiked ingredients as containing a high
degree of difference. The MS data allowed identification of the adulterating agents.

Other technologies have also been shown to identify potentially adulterated materials.
One example uses nuclear magnetic resonance.[7] Near-infrared analysis with chemometric
data analysis is being used in the food industry as a quality assurance tool, and this technology
has been expanded to monitor for food adulteration.
Once Beyond Our Grasp

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 The availability of more sensitive, accurate and rapid testing methods is enhancing
testing efficiencies, improving food safety programs and helping create a safer food supply.
Advancements in technology are allowing industry to meet many analytical challenges in food
product testing that were beyond our grasp not too long ago. The future holds much
excitement, raising the bar for industry stakeholders to stay abreast of these new technologies.

References
1.www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/Chemic
alContaminantsMetalsNaturalToxinsPesticides/ucm360020.htm.
2. www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/metals/ucm319870.htm.
3. gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/New%20Zealand%20Dairy%20Industry%
20Grapples%20With%20Product%
20Contaminant%20Issue_Wellington_New%20Zealand_3-14-2013.pdf.
4. www.who.int/foodsafety/fs_management/Melamine_3.pdf.
5. www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/chem-chim/melamine/qa-melamine-qr-eng.php.
6. Szpylka, J. and J. DeVries. 2010. Approaches of monitoring to assure ingredient authenticity.
AOAC International Annual Meeting.
7. Charlton, A.J., et al. 2008. Non-targeted detection of chemical contamination in carbonated
soft drinks using NMR spectroscopy, variable selection and chemometrics. Analytical Chimica
Acta 618(2):196201.

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 There are many branches of chemistry. The five main major branches of chemistry are
considered to be Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Physical
Chemistry and Biochemistry. However, relating food safety is much easier with Analytical
Chemistry because it is the study of the chemistry of matter and the development of tools used
to measure properties of matter. Analytical Chemistry is the science of obtaining, processing
and communicating information about the composition and structure of matter. In other
words, it is the art and science of determining what matter is and how much of it exists. By this
Analytical Chemistry is related to Food Analysis.

Food Analysis is the discipline dealing with the development, application and study of
analytical procedures for characterizing the properties of foods and their constituents. These
analytical procedures are used to provide information about a wide variety of different
characteristics of foods, including their composition, structure, physiochemical properties and
sensory attributes. Foods are being analyzed by Food Technologists in all major sectors of the
food industry including food manufacturers, suppliers, laboratories and academe.

The most important purposes for food analysis are to ensure quality management and
safety of food. Quality Assurance is the part of quality management that focuses on providing
confidence that quality requirements will be met or fulfilled. On the other hand, Quality Control
is the part of quality management focusing on fulfilling quality requirements. Quality assurance
relates to how a process is performed or how a product is made, quality control is more on the
inspection aspect of quality management. Also, Food Safety is a scientific discipline describing
handling, preparation and storage of food in ways to prevent foodborne illness. This includes a
number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food
safety is important for people to understand how their behavior and activities contribute to the
safety of the food and how they can decrease the risk of foodborne illness. Foodborne illnesses
are a preventable and underreported public health problem. These illnesses are a burden on
public health and contribute significantly to the cost of health care.

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 So, how can we relate Quality Management to Analytic Chemistry? The food industry is
highly competitive and food manufacturers are continually trying to increase their market-share
and profits. To do this they must ensure that their products are of higher quality, less
expensive, and more desirable than their competitors, whilst ensuring that they
are safe and nutritious. To meet these rigorous standards food manufacturers need analytical
techniques to analyze food materials before, during and after the manufacturing process to
ensure that the final product meets the desired standards. Also, Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Point (HACCP) has been developed, whose aim is to systematically identify the
ingredients or processes that may cause problems (hazard analysis), assign locations (critical
control points) within the manufacturing process where the properties of the food must be
measured to ensure that safety and quality are maintained, and to specify the appropriate
action to take if a problem is identified. The type of analytical technique required to carry out
the analysis is often specified.

Then, how is Food Safety relatable to Analytical Chemistry? One of the most important
reasons for analyzing foods from both the consumers and the manufacturers standpoint is to
ensure that they are safe. It would be economically disastrous, as well as being rather
unpleasant to consumers, if a food manufacturer sold a product that was harmful or toxic. A
food may be considered to be unsafe because it contains harmful microorganisms, toxic
chemicals or extraneous. It is important that food manufacturers do everything they can to
ensure that these harmful substances are not present, or that they are effectively eliminated
before the food is consumed. This can be achieved by following good manufacturing practice
regulations specified by the government for specific food products and by having analytical
techniques that are capable of detecting harmful substances.

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