RAFA 2009: Waters Seminar

EU projects represented at RAFA 2009:

Lunch vendor seminar, November 4, 2009 (12:45–14:00)

Latest Achievements in Food Testing

Sponsored by

Advancing Food Testing through Integrated Technology, Sample Preparation and Workflow Solutions
Sandra Rontree, MS Technology Centre, Manchester, UK

Innovations in tandem quadrupole MS have allowed the analysis of food contaminants to be set-up and completed more rapidly. New software tools automate the creation of methods whilst providing real-time QC decision making on the data as acquisition occurs. During acquisition the unique Dual Scan MRM capability enables simultaneous matrix monitoring, helping reduce method development timescales and providing essential QC/QA during an analytical run. High performance quantification is complemented by the capability to perform long term studies of trends with the generation of electronic control charts.

Time of flight mass spectrometry (ToF MS) screening has gained popularity due to benefits such as historical data interrogation, simplified instrumental method set-up and reduced compromise in method performance when increasing the scope. However, processing and reviewing TOF screening data is often a complex workflow where positive peaks are first identified then quantified to assess the risk posed to the consumer. Frequently the transfer from qualitative to quantitative processes is performed manually, which places a significant drain on data review resource and introduces a high probability for errors.

The use of ACQUITY UPLC coupled to quadrupole time of flight (Xevo QTof MS) for the screening of more than 1250 pesticides in food will be discussed and compared to those obtained on tandem quadrupole MS. The data was processed using POSIIVE software, enabling exact mass data to be qualitatively and quantitatively reviewed in a single pass.

Increasing the Capabilities of Food Testing Laboratories using Atmospheric Pressure GC (APGC) and Ambient Sampling Technology (ASAP)
Peter Hancock, Waters MS Technologies Centre, Manchester, UK

In food analysis there has been a move towards the utilization of LC/MS with atmospheric pressure ionization (API) techniques. API has primarily been used to interface MS with LC, but it is also a powerful ionisation method that can be applied to GC.

A novel atmospheric pressure ion source (APGC) for tandem quadrupole and quadrupole time-of-flight LC/MS instruments will be described, allowing laboratories to switch rapidly between LC and GC applications to analyse compounds traditionally analysed by dedicated vacuum GC/MS instruments. Ionization of a GC eluent at atmospheric pressure is a softer process, giving molecular weight information for compounds which are extensively fragmented in traditional Electron Ionization (EI). Examples related to food will be shown illustrating the advantage of softer ionization and of the improvement in separation that can be achieved with the column eluting at atmospheric pressure rather than in a vacuum.

The food testing laboratory also faces the challenge of being able to successfully and rapidly screen for the presence of analytes using a simple technique with minimal sample preparation and no chromatographic separation would be advantageous. The Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP) allows the direct analysis at atmospheric pressure with little or no sample preparation and no chromatographic separation. Examples will be shown where ASAP allows the direct analysis of both solid and liquid samples and is particularly useful for compounds which are non-polar and not normally amenable to analysis by API techniques.